The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected decrease in initial jobless claims in the U.S. in the week ended October 14th.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 198,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level of 211,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 212,000 from the 209,00 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected dip, jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting 194,000 in the week ended January 21st.
