US jobless claims stayed below last year's level even amid a slight uptick

Seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims rose 8,000 to 229,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised level. That compares with 255,000 claims filed in the same week a year ago, the Labor Department said in a press release.

The data came days after the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the number of job openings in April fell to a two-year low of 8.1 million. The number of those leaving their jobs fell to 3.5 million, from 3.6 million a year earlier, which could signal less confidence among workers that they could find higher paying work elsewhere.