Goldman Sachs expects U.S. initial jobless claims to rise to 235,000

The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits rose last week, according to Goldman Sachs Group's state-level data analytics during the federal government shutdown. Initial jobless claims rose to 235,000 in the week ending October 4, economists led by Jan Hatzius said in a research note. The bank estimated the number of people in the previous week was about 224,000. Goldman used seasonal factors pre-released by the U.S. Department of Labor to adjust the raw state data available in its calculations. The Labor Department did not release a weekly report on Thursday because of the federal government shutdown, but provided downloadable data for most states. Economists also found that estimates of continuing claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly to 1.92 million in the week ending Sept. 27 from the previous week's 1.91 million. Economists at Goldman Sachs estimated initial claims in Hawaii and Massachusetts, assuming they were consistent with the latest figures.