The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showed a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended June 11th.
The report showed initial jobless claims edged down to 229,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 232,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 220,000 from the 229,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 218,500, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average of 215,750.
