The number of U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended Dec. 12 rose by 7,000, or 1.5%, to 480,000 from the previous week's revised number of 473,000, the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Economists had expected claims to decrease, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average of claims for the week ended Dec. 12 fell by 5,250, or 1.1%, to 467,500 from the previous week's revised average of 472,750.