A day ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended July 1st.
The report said initial jobless claims rose to 248,000, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level of 236,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to climb to 245,000 from the 239,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 253,250, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 256,750.
