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WASHINGTON, July 20: The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits dropped by a bigger-than-expected 30,000 to 304,000 in the latest week, the Labour Department said on Thursday.
Most Wall Street economists had expected claims to stand at 320,000 for the week ended July 15.
The department revised up the prior week’s level of claims to 334,000 from an initial estimate of 332,000.The four-week moving average of claims dropped 1,250 to 316,750. Economists focus more closely on the four-week average because it smoothes out fluctuations in the weekly data. —AFP
