In the week through Sept. 28, there were 225,000 initial jobless claims, compared economists expectations of 220,000 initial claims.

The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose marginally last week, but Hurricane Helene's rampage in the U.S. Southeast and strikes at Boeing and ports could distort the labor market picture in the near term.

A Thursday federal report finds U.S. inflation dropped to its lowest level in over three years in September but the downtick came in shy of what most economists projected.