Government data due out Thursday is expected to show that initial claims filed for unemployment benefits rose last week after falling in the prior period.
Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR forecast that claims jumped to 360,000 for the week that ended April 26. The Labor Department is scheduled to release the data at 10 a.m. EDT.
The department last week said applications for unemployment benefits fell by 33,000 to 342,000. Economists had been expecting claims would rise by 3,000.
The government's four-week moving average of new claims, which smooths out week-to-week fluctuations, last week fell by 7,250 to 369,000.
Even with the improvements, analysts are worried the weak economy is putting greater pressures on the labor market.
Several companies from different sectors announced job cuts within the last two weeks:
_ General Motors Corp., the nation's biggest automaker, said it will layoff 3,500 workers as it cuts production of some trucks and SUVs at four U.S. plants this summer.
_ Toolmaker Black & Decker Corp. will lay off 700 employees after reporting that first-quarter earnings were down 37.6 percent from the same period last year.
_ Health care company Johnson & Johnson said it's cutting 400 U.S.-based sales jobs by year's end. The layoffs are in response to falling sales of anemia drug Procrit, whose sales have plunged since federal regulators put new safety warnings on such drugs last year, the company said.
_ High-definition TV maker Syntax-Brillian Corp. said it would eliminate positions representing overhead savings of about 20 percent, or about $4 million in operating costs per year. In a June 30 regulatory filing, the company said it had about 300 employees.
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