By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - New applications for unemployment benefits rose last week by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 418,000, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch has expected new requests for jobless benefits to fall to 403,000 in the week ended July 16. Claims in the prior week were revised up to 408,000 from an original reading of 405,000. Some 1,750 state workers in Minnesota filed for benefits during a brief government shutdown that has now ended. The average of new claims over the past four weeks, meanwhile, dipped 2,750 to 421,250. Continuing claims decreased by 50,000 to 3.7 million. A total of 7.33 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week ended July 2.
