INSTANT VIEW - U.S. weekly jobless claims at 16-year high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose by a larger than expected 27,000 last week to their highest level in 16 years, Labour Department data showed on Thursday, as a harsh economic environment forces employers to cut back on hiring.

KEY POINTS: * Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits were a seasonally adjusted 542,000 in the week ended November 15 from a revised 515,000 the previous week. * A Labour Department official said there were no special factors influencing the report. * Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast 505,000 new claims versus a previously reported count of 516,000 the week before. * The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, a better gauge of underlying labour trends because it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose to 506,500 from 490,750 the week before, the highest since the start of 1983. * Continuing claims were 4.012 million in the week ended November 8, the latest data available, up from 3.903 million the prior week and the highest since December 1982.

COMMENTS:

PETER KENNY, MANAGING DIRECTOR AT KNIGHT EQUITY MARKETS IN

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY:

"They're awful, they're bad. They point to significant weakness in trends. The problem is not the gross number alone, but coupled with what is the solution coming from Washington. So you have a terrible trend coupled with people coming off benefit roles."

ALAN RUSKIN, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIST, RBS GREENWICH

CAPITAL, GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT:

"Initial claims data lays on the misery. For the dollar, I am disinclined to fight the risk aversion trade. There are too many fires to put out - a variety of US financial institutions in the spotlight and an auto sector crying for help with time working against it."