After reporting first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits at a six-month high in the previous week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that initial jobless claims pulled back in line with estimates in the week ended December 24th.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 265,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 275,000. The drop in jobless claims matched economist estimates.
The modest decline came after jobless claims reached their highest level since the week ended June 11th in the previous week.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 263,000, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 263,750.
Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, climbed by 63,000 to 2.102 million in the week ended December 17th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also rose to 2,042,250, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 2,037,750.
Next Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for December.
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