Jobless Claims Fall to Four-Month Low

Initial jobless claims fell to a four-month low last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims dropped by 15,000 to 298,000, while the less-volatile four-week moving average fell to 311,500 claims from 321,250, Labor said.

Economists had forecast weekly claims to dip to 316,000 new claims, Bloomberg reported.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits rose to 2.551 million for the previous week ended Sept. 15, from 2.54 million the previous week, which had been the lowest level since July, Labor said.