First time benefits rose sharply by 25,000 over first estimates the week before.

The Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Reportwas released this morning for last week. The 377,000 new claims is a 21,000 increase from an upward adjustment of 4,000 for the previous week (356K, previously 352K). The less volatile and closely watched four-week moving average came in at 377,500, the eleventh week below 400K after 29 consecutive weeks above that benchmark. Here is the official statement from the Department of Labor:

Note:  the previous week was initially reported at 352,000 and adjusted twice before this week.  "21,000" does not sound as bad as "25,000."  -  blog editor.  

In the week ending January 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 377,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 356,000. The 4-week moving average was 377,500, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average of 380,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.8 percent for the week ending January 14, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 14, was 3,554,000, an increase of 88,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,466,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,569,000, a decrease of 15,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,584,750.

Today's seasonally adjusted number came in slightly above the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 375K and likewise Briefing.com's own estimate of 375K.

As we can see, there's a good bit of volatility in this indicator, which is why the 4-week moving average (shown in the callouts) is a more useful number than the weekly data.