The data from
the Labour Department revealed on
Thursday the number of applications for unemployment came in below expectations last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits declined by
2,000 to 210,000 for the week ended March
16. Economists had forecast
215,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week
were revised upwardly to 212,000 from the original estimate of 209,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims rose to 211,250 from an upwardly revised 208,750 (from 208,000)
in the previous week. This marked the first gain in five
weeks and represented the highest count since the week ended February 17 (212,250).
As for continuing claims, they increased to 1,807,000
from a downwardly revised 1,803,000 (from 1,811,000) in the previous week. This
was the highest reading since late January.