19.12.201912:38:00UTC+00U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Pull Back Less Than Expected

After reporting a significant increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the previous week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing initial jobless claims pulled back in the week ended December 14th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 234,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 252,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 225,000.

The smaller than expected pullback came after jobless claims reached their highest level since September of 2017 in the previous week.