Bloomberg (10/10/13) Jeanna Smialek; Shobhana Chandra

The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits rose last week, in part due to a backlog stemming from a change to California’s computer systems and the partial federal government shutdown. Jobless claims rose 66,000 to 374,000 in the week ended Oct. 5, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast an increase to 311,000. Claims filed by furloughed federal workers will not be included in the figures, although nonfederal employees affected by the shutdown are.

The less-volatile four-week moving average rose to 325,000 last week from 305,000.

Wall Street Journal (10/09/13) Patrick O’Connor; Janet Hook; Carol E. Lee

House Republicans are preparing to meet with President Obama today in an effort to end the federal government shutdown. Conservative Republicans are considering agreeing to a short-term increase in the nation’s borrowing limit, tied to a framework for broader deficit-reduction discussions. The president has said he is open to the idea of a short-term debt limit increase.

New York Times (10/09/13) Binyamin Appelbaum

Janet Yellen, President Obama’s nominee to succeed Ben Bernanke as the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, is expected to extend the Fed’s stimulus campaign. She is more concerned with unemployment than with inflation, and is convinced the Fed is capable of creating job growth. Some Senate Republicans and investors are concerned she will not guard sufficiently against inflation.