The US Labor Department reported Thursday on sharp drop in the initial jobless claims by 27,000 to a seasonally adjusted 341,000 in the week ended Feb. 9. This decrease is the most imptrssive for the last 3 weeks and analysts call it the next evidence of better situation in the US labor market.
Labor Department revised initial claims from two weeks ago to 368,000 vs original 366,000, as more complete data collected the last week.
The continuing claims decreased by 130,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.1 million in the week ended Feb. 2.
U.S. stock index futures trimmed losses after the report.