Jobless Claims Decline for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 18,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

First-time claims declined to 365,000 for the week ended Saturday, Labor said. Economists had forecast a decline to 370,000 claims, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, rose to 367,000, from 364,500.

The number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits fell by 10,000 for the previous week ended April 26, to 3.02 million, Labor said.