US initial jobless claims rise from almost 42-year low

The number of Americans initially applying for unemployment aid last week rose from an almost 42-year low, while the whole job market kept moving upward.

In the week ending July 25, the advance figure of seasonally adjusted initial claims for jobless benefits increased to 267,000, up 12,000 from the unrevised level of the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average, which helps smooth out week-to-week volatility, edged down by 3,750 to 274,750 last week.

Weekly jobless claims in July tend to be volatile due to temporary layoffs and rehiring in the auto industry in economists' eyes, while the four-week moving average provide a more reliable measure of the underlying trend of labor market conditions

Fed officials on Wednesday upgraded their assessment of the job market after concluding the two-day policy meeting, saying the labor market continued to improve and the underutilization of labor resources has diminished since early this year. In the previous statement, the Fed believed that underutilization only " diminished somewhat."

The advance figure of seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 18 increased 46,000 from the previous week to 2,262,000.