NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, a government report showed on Thursday, as companies continued to cut payrolls amid uncertainty over the economic outlook.

KEY POINTS: * Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 576,000 in the week ended August 15 from 561,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said. * Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast new claims slipping to 550,000 last week from a previously reported 558,000. * A Labor Department official said there were no special factors influencing the report. * The number of people collecting long-term unemployment benefits edged up 2,000 to 6.24 million in the week ended August 8, the latest week for which the data is available. However, the four-week moving average declined 2,500 to 6.27 million.

COMMENTS:

JOHN SPINELLO, TREASURY BOND STRATEGIST, JEFFERIES & CO, NEW YORK:

"They were a little surprising on the upside. There was also upward revisions (to the previous week). The jobless claims four-week moving average is moving up this week -- it has been up for the last three or four weeks, which is really not a good sign. The labor market is still suffering. It is disappointing."

KURT KARL, CHIEF U.S. ECONOMIST, SWISS RE, NEW YORK:

"These numbers are definitely not going in the right direction. It's not good at all and the report is indicative that this is definitely not going to be a V-shape recovery. For a real recovery we need the consumer to be in the game but with rising unemployment the consumer is not going to be out there spending. The dollar will remain soft for some time. There's no real growth and interest rates are way too low to support any sustained strength in the currency."

ZACH PANDL, ECONOMIST, NOMURA SECURITIES INTERNATIONAL, NEW YORK:

"Claims have been choppy in recent weeks. We still think jobless claims have peaked and they are on a downward trend. This is a reminder that the job market conditions are challenging.

"I expect the August payroll report to be similar to the one last month so we should see another month of job losses."

LINDA DUESSEL, MARKET STRATEGIST, FEDERATED INVESTORS, PITTSBURGH:

"I think that we're hoping for the numbers to stay below 600,000, and not until we get below 500,000 can we be more certain that there is an economic recovery.

"It can be more difficult to reach that number, but the summertime is a little distorted, and we're going to see the number come down as the auto companies ramp up production. That's something we should expect.

"What we look at is the four-week averages, these have been clearly trending down for months, so its moving in the right direction. Also, the difference between the actual number and the estimate isn't that big of a surprise."

MARKET REACTION: STOCKS: U.S. stock index futures pare gains BONDS: U.S. Treasury debt prices erase losses DOLLAR: U.S. dollar dips versus yen

Dollar slides. Stocks slide. Not good.

and now the IRS is going after money overseas. This situation will not improve for quite a while.

In a normal recession, unemployment is a lagging indicator. In some, it was a leading indicator. This, is not a 'normal' correction type recession. This one is housing, credit, banking and manufactorer driven. Gonna be really hard to get back on track.

quote Originally posted by maryjane: In a normal recession, unemployment is a lagging indicator. In some, it was a leading indicator. This, is not a 'normal' correction type recession. This one is housing, credit, banking and manufactorer driven. Gonna be really hard to get back on track.

Yeah. What we really need right now is a state-run media, state-run banking system, state ownership of all the means of production, and an entirely centrally-planned economy.

quote Originally posted by D B Cooper: Yeah. What we really need right now is a state-run media, state-run banking system, state ownership of all the means of production, and an entirely centrally-planned economy.

And a 5 year plan and a great leap forward to go along with the above?

<-----Looking forward to hear President Obama first State of the Union address, maybe we'll learn something about his plan.
God only knows what's next.

Ron

One thing they MUST do, is be CONSISTENT in the manner in which they calculate this stuff... the "Unemployment rate" has been calculated a bunch of different ways, and the percent has a pretty broad range, depending on how they crunch the numbers(whether they want it to show a rise or a fall)

THAT is frustratiung.

It will all be Bush's fault.

quote Originally posted by rpro: It will all be Bush's fault.

Not after July 14th.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn....9/07/14/1996373.aspx

My friends could all easily get jobs, but they make more on unemployment + under the table jobs than they could ever dream of at the jobs they could easily get.

quote Originally posted by blackrams: <-----Looking forward to hear President Obama first State of the Union address, maybe we'll learn something about his plan. God only knows what's next. Ron

That's because Obama HAS NO plan. He has grand ideas, but never had any real plan for implemenation. He just dumps his ideas on an all-too-willing liberal Democratic run Congress, and that clusterf*** produces 1000+ page pork-laden bills that no one has read.

quote Originally posted by fierobear: That's because Obama HAS NO plan. He has grand ideas, but never had any real plan for implemenation. He just dumps his ideas on an all-too-willing liberal Democratic run Congress, and that clusterf*** produces 1000+ page pork-laden bills that no one has read.

Jesus, I wonder how many times we're gonna see a replay of THIS?
(especially the last line you typed)