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A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed a much bigger than expected decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended July 15th.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 233,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level of 248,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 245,000 from the 247,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the bigger than expected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting a matching figure in the week ended May 13th.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also dropped to 243,750, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average of 246,000.
Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, rose by 28,000 to 1.977 million in the week ended July 8th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims also climbed to 1,959,000, an increase of 8,750 from the previous week's revised average of 1,950,250.
