Initial Jobless Claims Snap Back Above 400,000

Obama at the wheel and stuck in neutral.

Weekly jobless claims ticked back above 400,000, suggesting that the U.S. jobs market has not yet seen sustained improvement.

Some 401,000 Americans filed for unemployment in the week ended Oct. 1, according to the Labor Department. The latest update was up by 6,000 from the previous week's revised 395,000.

The four-week moving average decreased by 4000 to 414,000.

With the exception of the prior week, initial jobless claims have stubbornly clung above the 400,000 level since April of this year. The unemployment rate has remained above 9% since the spring of 2009.