Jobless Claims Drop for Week

Initial jobless claims decreased by 13,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

New claims fell to 403,000 for the week ended Saturday, a smaller fall economists’ forecasts of a drop to 390,000. The previous week’s figure was originally reported as 412,000.

The four-week moving average of new claims, a less volatile measure, rose to 399,000, the highest since Feb. 19.

Continuing claims for the previous week ended April 9 fell by 7,000 from a week earlier, to 3.7 million.