The data from
the Labour Department revealed on
Thursday the number of applications for unemployment unexpectedly decreased last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by
2,000 to 210,000 for the week ended March
23. This marked the first drop in first-time unemployment claims in three weeks.
Economists had foreseen
215,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week
were revised upwardly to 212,000 from the original estimate of 210,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims slipped to 211,000 from an upwardly revised 211,750 (from 211,250)
in the previous week.
As for continuing claims, they jumped to 1,819,000
from a downwardly revised 1,795,000 (from 1,807,000) in the previous week. This
represented the highest reading since the week ended January 20 (~1,830,000).