Applications for U.S. unemployment insurance ticked up from an almost four-month low, suggesting demand for workers remains healthy despite an increasingly uncertain economic outlook.
Initial unemployment claims increased by 5,000 to 213,000 in the week ended Sept. 17, after a downward revision in the prior week, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 217,000 new applications.
The four-week moving average, which smooths out volatility from week to week, fell to 216,750.
