Initial jobless claims fall more than expected

Unemployment line

(REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

Initial jobless claims fell to 263,000 last week, according to the Department of Labor.

Economists had estimated that first-time claims for unemployment insurance fell to 274,000 last week from 276,000 (revised from 277,000) in the prior period.

The labor department reported no special factors in this week's initial claims. It was the lowest reading in 12 weeks.

The four-week moving average of claims fell by 3,000 to 267,500.

"The nervousness among employers evident in the recent payroll numbers – if you believe them – is entirely absent from the claims numbers, just as almost all indicators of hiring have remained strong," wrote Pantheon Macroeconomics' Ian Shepherdson in a client note.

This chart shows that the trend in claims is very low.

Claims (6)

(Pantheon Macroeconomics)

NOW WATCH: Here's what a hiring manager scans for when reviewing résumés

More From Business Insider

• These Toyota trucks are popular with terrorists — here's why
  

• 3 scientists just won a Nobel for discovering the genetic mechanisms that explain why we don’t all have cancer
  

• Initial jobless claims rise more than expected