Jobless Claims Fall 18,000 for Week

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

Claims declined to 357,000 for the week ended Saturday, in contrast to economists’ forecasts of an increase to 375,000 claims, Bloomberg reported.
 
The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 368,500, from 371,250.
 
The number of people continuing to collect unemployment benefits fell to 3.093 million for the previous week ended May 24, from 3.109 million the prior week.

The Labor Department will release its monthly unemployment figures Friday, with economists projecting an increase in the unemployment rate to 5.1%, from 5%, Bloomberg reported.