MNI BRIEF: US Jobless Claims Inch Closer to 1M Again

Initial jobless claims filed in the week ended Jan. 9 jumped to 965,000, the highest level since August and an increase of 181,000 over the previous week's revised 784,000, according to figures released Thursday by the Labor Department. Markets had expected initial claims to fall to 786,000.

Continuing claims also inched higher through Jan. 2, the latest week for which data are available, growing by 199,000 to 5.271 million when markets had expected a drop to 5 million.

Claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which extends jobless benefits to typically ineligible groups like independent contractors, increased to 284,000 through Jan. 9, up from 161,159 through Jan. 2.

As of Dec. 26, 18.4 million Americans were claiming unemployment insurance benefits, according to the Labor Department data. That's down from 19.152 million through December 19.