The data from
the Labour Department showed on
Thursday the number of applications for unemployment dropped more than forecast last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 17,000 to 233,000 for the week ended August 3. This represented the lowest weekly total in four weeks.
Economists had forecast
240,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 250,000
from the original estimate of 249,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims jumped to 240,750 from an upwardly revised 238,250 (from 238,000) in the previous week.
This marked the highest count since the week ended August 26, 2023
(245,250).
As for
continuing claims, they climbed to 1,875,000,
compared to a downwardly revised 1,869,000
(from 1,877,000) in the previous week. This was the highest
reading since mid-November 2021. Economists
had predicted continuing jobless claims of 1,870,000.