Initial Jobless Claims Fall 9,000 for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Jobless claims fell to 366,000 for the week ended Saturday, Labor said. Economists had forecast a drop to 370,000 claims, Bloomberg reported.
 
The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, rose for a third straight week, to 358,000, the highest since October 2005.

The number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits fell to 2.845 million for the previous week ended March 15, from 2.85 million the prior week.