The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a slight uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended January 17th.
The report said initial jobless claims crept up to 200,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 199,000.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average slipped to 201,500, a decrease of 3,750 from the previous week's revised average of 205,250.
With the dip, the four-week moving average dropped to its lowest level since hitting 200,000 in the week ended January 13, 2024.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also slid by 26,000 to 1.849 million in the week ended January 10th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also fell to 1,870,750, a decrease of 16,250 from the previous week's revised average of 1,887,000.