The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week fell from a five-month high, suggesting sustained labour market healing that could lead to further U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hikes next year.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 271,000 for the week ended Dec.12, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's claims were unrevised.
It was the 41st straight week that claims remained below 300,000, connoting strong labour market conditions, and the longest such run since the early 1970s.
The Fed on Wednesday raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to between 0.25% and 0.5%, the first hike in nearly a decade. The U.S. central bank said there had been "further improvement" in the labour market and that "underutilization of labour resources" had dropped sharply since the beginning of the year.
While claims tend to be volatile around the holidays, the trend has continued to point to strengthening labour market conditions. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends -- as it strips out week-to-week volatility -- slipped 250 to 270,500 last week.
