A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday unexpectedly showed a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended July 8th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 237,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level of 249,000.
The dip surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to inch up to 250,000 from the 248,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The report said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 246,750, a decrease of 6,750 from the previous week's revised average of 253,500.
