The data from
the Labour Department revealed on
Wednesday that the number of applications for unemployment unexpectedly dropped last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits declined by 10,000 to 201,000 for the week that ended January 4. This marked the lowest weekly total since the week ended February 17, 2024 (200,000).
Economists had forecast
218,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the
prior week were left unrevised at 211,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims decreased to 213,000 from an unrevised 223,250 in the previous week. This was the lowest count since the week ended April 27, 2024 (210,250).
As for
continuing claims, they increased to 1,867,000 from a downwardly revised
1,834,000 (from 1,844,000) in the previous week. Economists
had forecast continuing jobless claims of 1,870,000.