Jobless Claims Fall by 15,000

Initial jobless claims fell by 15,000 for the week ended Saturday to 322,000, a two-month low, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The less-volatile four-week moving average fell 341,000 from 344,000, Labor said.
 
The weekly claims level was below economists’ forecast of an increase to 340,000 claims, Bloomberg reported.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits fell to 2.702 million for the previous week ended Dec. 29, from 2.754 million.