Initial Jobless Claims Fall for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 47,000 last week to 522,000 from the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Economists had forecast a decline to 533,000, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 584,500, from 607,000 a week earlier, Labor said.

The number of Americans collecting jobless benefits fell to 6.27 million for the previous week ended July 4, from 6.92 million the previous week.