Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, evidence that the U.S. labour market remains healthy.
Figures out of Washington Thursday morning showed a modest drop in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 25. Even so, claims still came in above economist estimates.
The report from the U.S. Labor Department revealed initial jobless claims edged down to 258,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 261,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 247,000 from the 258,000 originally reported for the previous week.The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to 254,250.
Applications are a proxy for layoffs and have remained below 300,000, a historically low level, for 108 weeks. That's the longest stretch since 1970
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