With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended September 30th.
The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 260,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 272,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 265,000.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also fell to 268,250, a decrease of 9,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 277,750.
The decline by the four-week moving average came after it rose to its highest level since February of 2016 in the previous week.
On the other hand, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, edged up by 2,000 to 1.938 million in the week ended September 23rd.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still dipped to 1,947,000, a decrease of 3,250 from the previous week's revised average of 1,950,250.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release it more closely watched monthly employment report for September.
Employment is expected to rise by 90,000 jobs in September after climbing by 156,000 jobs in August. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.4 percent.
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