Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decreased to 234,000

The DOL reported:

In the week ending December 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 234,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 252,000. The 4-week moving average was 225,500, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 224,000.
emphasis added

The previous week was unrevised.

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.

Click on graph for larger image.

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased to 225,500.

This was higher than the consensus forecast.