2017.09.2108:38:00UTC+00U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Decline

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly decreased in the week ended September 16th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, with initial jobless claims pulling back further off a recent two-year high.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 259,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week's revised level of 282,000.

The continued decrease surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to climb to 300,000 from the 284,000 originally reported for the previous week.