Jobless Claims Decline for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 21,000 last week to the lowest level since early July, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The decline put claims for the week ended Saturday at 434,000, lower than the 452,000 projected by economists, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 453,250, also the lowest level since July, from 458,750 the week before.

Continuing claims for the previous week ended Oct. 16 dropped by 122,000 from a week earlier, to 4.36 million, the lowest since November 2008.