Jobless Claims Drop for Week

Initial jobless claims declined by 3,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The decline to 420,000 matched estimates by economists, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, grew to 426,000 from 423,500 a week earlier.

Continuing claims for the previous week ended Dec. 11 fell 103,000 from a week earlier to 4.06 million, the lowest in two years, Bloomberg said.