Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims increase to 196,000

The DOL reported:
In the week ending February 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 196,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 183,000. The 4-week moving average was 189,250, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 191,750.
emphasis addedThe following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.

Click on graph for larger image.

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased to 189,250.

The previous week was unrevised.

Weekly claims were close to the consensus forecast.