Initial Jobless Claims Decline for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 last week from the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims for the week ended Saturday declined to 570,000, Labor said in its weekly report.

Economists had forecast claims to drop to 565,000, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 566,250, from 571,000 a week earlier, Labor said.

The number of Americans collecting jobless benefits fell by 119,000 for the previous week ended Aug. 15, to 6.13 million, the smallest since early April.