Jobless Claims Fall to 420,000
(U.S. weekly jobless claims data updated with additional detail.)
WASHINGTON (
) -- The number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 3,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 420,000, the Labor Department said early Thursday. The figure compares to a downwardly revised rate of 423,000 in the prior week.
|
The figure was expected to edge up to 424,000 for the week ended Dec. 18, according to consensus estimates listed on
Briefing.com
.
The number of people receiving continuing benefits fell to a two-year low at 4.06 million, from 4.17 million in the prior week, a promising sign that the labor market is improving. The figure was expected to have fallen to just 4.1 million.
The four-week moving average, which strips out some of the week-to-week volatility, edged up to 426,000, from 423,500.
The major indexes were lower in premarket trading ahead of the report. The
SPDR S&P 500
(SPY) - Get Report
, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500, traded down 0.1% ahead of the opening bell Thursday. The
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average
(DIA) - Get Report
ETF lost 0.2% and the
PowerShares QQQ Trust
(QQQQ)
fell 0.3%.
Stock futures were lower in premarket trading ahead of the report. The
SPDR S&P 500
(SPY) - Get Report
, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500, traded down 0.1% ahead of the opening bell Thursday. The
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average
(DIA) - Get Report
ETF lost 0.1% and the
PowerShares QQQ Trust
(QQQQ)
fell 0.2%.
-- Written by Miriam Marcus Reimer in New York.
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