New US jobless claims rose last week to their highest since June and a gauge of New York State manufacturing contracted in September, sustaining the view the Federal Reserve could take new action to boost growth. At the same time, consumer prices rose a surprisingly steep 0.4 percent in August, slowing only slightly from the previous month's rate. The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly to 428,000 in the week ending Sept.10, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the second straight week in which claims rose. Wall Street analysts expected a modest dip in new claims. Separately, the New York Fed's “Empire State” general business conditions index fell to minus 8.82 in September from minus 7.72 the month before. “Overall we see that activity is slowing down,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. “But we haven't slipped into a recession yet.” US stock index futures pared gains after the data, while US Treasury debt took back some losses. The dollar rose versus the yen. The jobs data could provide an added sense of urgency for US Federal Reserve Chairman ben Bernanke and other policymakers, who plan to take extra day at their policy review next week to deliberate their options. Many economists expect the central bank will unveil new measures to boost growth next Tuesday. But despite dim prospects of America's 9.1 percent unemployment rate coming down much anytime soon, many Fed watchers expect a relatively modest stimulus plan that would try to bring down long-term interest rates without ramping up dollar printing.
