Jobless Claims Fall 9,000 for Week

Initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 last week to 311,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The less-volatile four-week moving average fell to 320,750 claims from 324,250, Labor said.

Economists had forecast weekly claims to rise to 321,000 new claims, Bloomberg reported.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits also fell, to 2.544 million for the previous week ended Sept. 8 — the fewest since mid-July — from 2.597 million the previous week, Labor said.