Initial Jobless Claims Fall for Third Consecutive Week

The number of people filing for initial jobless claims fell last week, but the number of Americans on the unemployment roster continued to grow.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended June 23 fell 16,000 to 388,000 from a revised 404,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department reported this morning. Economists had expected claims to rise to 412,000. This is the third straight week of declines.

The report comes one day after the Federal Reserve announced it was cutting short-term rates another quarter of a percentage point, bringing the federal funds target rate to 3.75%. The move was the Fed's sixth rate cut of the year. The other reductions this year had each been 50 basis points. ...