First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits came in flat in the week ended December 18th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims were unchanged from the previous week's revised level of 205,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 205,000 from the 206,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Jobless claims held steady after the previous week saw claims edge up off the more than 50-year low of 188,000 set in the week ended December 4th.
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