New orders for US manufactured capital goods rebounded in October, driven by rising demand for machinery and a range of other equipment, the latest indication of acceleration in economic growth early in the fourth quarter.

The brightening economic outlook received a further boost from other data today showing a jump in consumer sentiment this month in the wake of the election of Donald Trump as the next president.

Consumers viewed the business mogul's victory as positive for their personal finances and the economy's prospects.

While the number of people filing for unemployment benefits rose from a 43-year low last week, the trend in claims remained consistent with a tightening labour market.

Overall, the tone of the reports was supportive of views that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month.

"One thing we can give thanks for this Thanksgiving Day weekend is the economy. It is in good shape and is starting to accelerate," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania.

The Commerce Department said non-defence capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.4% after declining 1.4% in September.

These so-called core capital goods orders have now increased in four of the last five months.

Shipments of core capital goods rose 0.2% last month after a 0.4% gain in September.

Core capital goods shipments are used to calculate equipment spending in the government's gross domestic product measurement.

"Although it is still early in the quarter, this increase in core capital goods shipments raises the prospect for the first increase in business equipment spending within GDP in five quarters," said John Ryding, Chief Economist at RDQ Economics in New York.

In a separate report, the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index rose 8.2 points from the pre-election reading to 93.8.

That left the index 6.6 points above the October reading.

UMich said the post-election boost in optimism was widespread, with gains recorded among all income and age subgroups and across all regions of the country.

Separately, the Labour Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 251,000 for the week ended 19 November.

Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labour market, for 90 straight weeks.

That is the longest run since 1970, when the labour market was much smaller.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 2,000 to 251,000 last week.