Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims increase to 228,000

The DOL reported:

In the week ending October 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 228,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 219,000. The 4-week moving average was 211,500, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 206,500.
emphasis added

The 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 increased to 211,500.

The previous week was unrevised.

Weekly claims were close to the consensus forecast.