July 21 (Reuters) – U.S. jobless claims rose in the week to July 16 to 251,000 from 244,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
Economists had forecast a drop in registrations, expected to average 240,000.
The four-week moving average stands at 240,500 against 236,000 (revised) the previous week.
The number of people regularly receiving benefits rose to 1.384 million during the week to July 9 (last week for which these figures are available) against 1.333 million (revised) the previous week.
Table: (Report Juliette Portala, edited by Laetitia Volga and Sophie Louet)