Jobless Claims Fall by 9,000

Initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The drop to 297,000 new claims was below economists’ forecasts of a gain to 315,000, Bloomberg reported.

The less-volatile four-week moving average fell to 317,250 from 328,750 the previous week.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits rose to 2.555 million for the previous week ended April 28, from 2.49 million a week earlier, Labor reported.