09.04.202012:39:00UTC+00U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Drop Much Less Than Expected

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits decreased in the week ended April 4th but still came in well above economist estimates, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report said 6.606 million people filed for unemployment last week, a decrease of 261,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised level of 6.867 million.

Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 5.250 million from the 6.648 million originally reported for the previous week.

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average spiked to 4,265,500, an increase of 1,598,750 from the previous week's revised average of 2,666,750.