21.01.202112:36:00UTC+00U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Pull Back More Than Expected

After reporting a much bigger than expected 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 January 16th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 900,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's revised level of 926,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 910,000 from the 965,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average rose to 848,000, an increase of 23,500 from the previous week's revised average of 824,500.