Initial Jobless Claims Decline for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 37,000 last week, the biggest weekly decline in almost a year, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The drop to 404,000 was the biggest since last February and left claims below analysts’ median forecast 420,000 new claims, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 411,750, from 415,750.

Continuing claims for the previous week ended Jan. 8 fell by 26,000 from a week earlier, to 3.86 million.