Initial Jobless Claims Decrease for Week

Initial jobless claims dropped by 26,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims for the week ended Saturday declined to 550,000, Labor said in its weekly report.

Economists had forecast new claims would drop to 560,000 from a previously reported 570,000, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 570,000 for the week ended Saturday, from 572,750 a week earlier, Labor said.

The number of Americans collecting jobless benefits dropped by 560,000 for the previous week ended Aug. 29, to 6.09 million, the lowest level since early April, the department said.