The data from
the Labour Department showed on
Thursday the number of applications for unemployment unexpectedly decreased
last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by
1,000 to 209,000 for the week ended March
9. This was the lowest weekly total in three weeks.
Economists had anticipated
218,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week
were revised downwardly to 210,000 from the original estimate of 217,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims dropped to 208,000 from a downwardly revised 208,500 (from 212,250)
in the previous week. This marked the lowest count since the week ended January 19 (202,750).
As for
continuing claims, they grew to 1,811,000 from a downwardly revised 1,794,000
(from 1,906,000) in the previous week. This represented the highest reading since
late January. Economists had predicted continuing jobless claims of 1,900,000.