US jobless claims rise for 2nd week

WASHINGTON (AFP) - New US claims for unemployment benefits climbed for a second straight week but remained below the level of 500,000, govt data showed Thursday.
New claims in the week ending Dec 12 rose to 480,000 from the prior weeks revised 473,000, the Labor Dept said.
Most private economists had expected a drop in seasonally adjusted new claims to 465,000.
Still, the report highlighted stablization in the ailing jobs market. The four-week moving average, a less volatile indicator than the week-to-week figures, fell to 467,500 from the previous weeks revised 472,750.
The insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.9pc in the week ending December 5 from the previous week.
The number of people receiving jobless benefits in the week ending December 5 was 5,186,000, a slight rise from the previous weeks revised 5,181,000. The unemployment rate stood at 10.0pc in November, down from 10.2pc in Oct.
Meanwhile, the forward-looking US index of leading economic indicators rose in November, according to a Conference Board survey Thursday, suggesting recovery from recession is gaining momentum. The index rose 0.9pc, following a 0.3pc rise in October and a revised 1.2pc jump in September, the business research firm said. The November increase was stronger than the average analyst forecast of 0.7pc rise in the index, which is based on data such as average weekly hours in manufacturing, initial claims for unemployment insurance, stock prices and consumer expectations. The index, which had fallen steadily since mid-2007, has risen for eight consecutive months and is now slightly higher than its latest peak in July 2007.
All in all, the behavior of the composite indexes suggests that the recession is bottoming out and that economic conditions will continue to improve in the near term, the Conference Board said, notig strengths had remained widespread in recent months.
The November increase was led by large positive contributions from the interest rate spread, initial jobles claims, average weekly hours and housing permits, it said.
Those gains more than offset negative readings, such as from the index of supplier deliveries and the index of consumer expectations.
The index of coincident indicators, a gauge of current economic activity, rose 0.2 percent in November, after the index held unchanged in October following a 0.1 percent drop in September.