The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to a seven-month low in the week ended September 16th.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 201,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised level of 221,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 225,000 from the 220,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 199,000 in the week ended January 28th.
