Initial jobless claims decreased by 8,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Claims decreased to 355,000 for the week ended Saturday from 363,000, Labor said.
The initial claims figure was lower than economists’ forecasts of 365,000, Bloomberg reported.
The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure, rose to 370,000 last week from 367,250.
Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended Oct. 20 dropped by 135,000 to 3.15 million.