Today's Edition
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX)
A report released by the US Department of Labour on Thursday unexpectedly showed a modest decrease in first-time
claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended July 12.
The Labour Department said initial jobless claims fell to 221,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level of 228,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 235,000 from the 227,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The report said the less volatile four-week moving average also slipped to 229,500, a decrease of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average of 235,750.
