First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by much more than expected in the week ended February 14th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims slid to 206,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week's revised level of 229,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to slip to 225,000 from the 227,000 originally reported for the previous week.
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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.