Jobless Claims Drop 29,000 in Week

Claims for the week ended Saturday fell to to 409,000. Economists had forecast the rate to rise to 420,000, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, rose to 439,000, from 437,000.

The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits dropped by 81,000 for the previous week ended May 7, to 3.71 million, Labor said.