Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. fell in line with expectations last week, according to official data released on Thursday.
The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending December 3 fell to a seasonally adjusted 258,000 from the previous week’s total of 268,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to total 258,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims below the 300,000-level are usually associated with a firming labor market.
This was its 92th consecutive week below that threshold, its longest stretch since 1970.
Continuing jobless claims decreased to 2.005 million from an upwardly revised 2.084 million in the preceding week.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to increase to 2.059 million.
The four-week moving average was 252,500, up from the previous week's 251,500.
The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.