Mixed Economic News

Initial claims for unemployment rose 4000 to a seasonally adjusted 367,000, according to the Labor Department Thursday. The prior week's report was revised upward . However, the four week moving average remained unchanged at 375,000. One analyst says the labor market is just holding its own. The new unemployment figures will be released Friday and according to a Reuters survey of economists, the unemployment rate should jump to 8.2 percent and employers are expected to have added only 113,000 jobs, way short of the number needed to keep up the labor force. Meantime, orders placed with U S factories fell in August by the most in more than three years, which is signaling a slowdown in investment., according to the Commerce Department. Factories are feeling the effects of the economic problems in Europe and a slowdown in China.