U.S. initial claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 239,000 for the week ended Nov. 18 from the previous week's revised level of 252,000, the U.S. Labor Department said.
The four-week moving average rose to 239,750 from 238,500 in the previous week.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate increased to 1.4% for the week ended Nov. 11 from 1.3% in the previous week. Insured unemployment increased by 36,000 to 1,904,000 from 1,868,000 in the previous week.
