The Labor Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing a decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended September 2nd.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 216,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level of 229,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 234,000 from the 228,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 229,250, a decrease of 8,500 from the previous week's revised average of 237,750.
