For the first time in several weeks, weekly claims for unemployment benefits ticked up, according to statistics released by the Department of Labor.
According to the weekly report, 1.4 million Americans sought initial unemployment claims last week. That's up from about 1.3 million the week before.
Thursday's report marked the 18th straight week of more than 1 million unemployment claims. In that time span, the Department of Labor has recorded more than 50 million claims for unemployment insurance.