Jobless Claims Decline for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 14,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims for the week ended Saturday declined to 631,000 from a revised 645,000 the previous week, Labor said.

Economists had estimated that the number would remain at the 640,000 originally reported for the previous week, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 637,250, from 648,000 a week earlier.

The number of Americans collecting jobless benefits rose 133,000 to 6,27 million for the previous week ended April 18, the 13th straight weekly record, Labor said.