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 declined from an upwardly revised level in the week ended April 1st.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 228,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level of 246,000.
Economists had expected initial jobless claims to inch up to 200,000 from the 198,000 originally reported for the previous week.
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Forex News
June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.