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Jobless claims up 6,000
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May 6, 1999: 9:02 a.m. ET
Initial unemployment insurance claims back above 300,000 benchmark
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The number initial unemployment claims topped the key 300,000 mark at the end of April, a sharper-than- expected rise, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 301,000 for the week ended May 1, compared with a consensus forecast of 295,000 by Wall Street economists.
A week earlier, claims totaled a revised 295,000, up 1,000 from what the Labor Department originally reported.
Claims have hovered around 300,000 for the last couple of months. For nine consecutive weeks earlier this year, claims were in the high 200,000s, then rose slightly higher than 300,000 in mid-April before falling back again. In comparison, initial jobless claims neared 450,000 in 1991.
The four-week moving average of claims was essentially unchanged at 307,000 for the week ended May 1, compared with 307,500 a week earlier.
Continued unemployment claims fell to 2.16 million for the week ended April 24, down from a revised 2.18 million in the prior week.
On Friday, the Labor Department is due to report the April unemployment rate. In March, joblessness dropped to a 29-year low of 4.2 percent.
The Treasury market was slightly lower after the weekly jobless data were released. The benchmark U.S. Treasury bond was trading down 2/32 in price for a yield of 5.708 percent. Prior to the 8:30 a.m. report, the bond was up 2/32 for a yield of 5.699 percent. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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Department of Labor
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