Initial jobless claims fell less than expected.
Claims, which count the number of people who applied for unemployment for the first time, dipped by 3,000 to 247,000.
Economists forecast claims would fall to 245,000 from the prior week’s upwardly revised 250,000.
Initial jobless claims are used as a real-time proxy for the pace of layoffs, since people usually file for benefits soon after they lose their jobs.
The four-week moving average came in at 245,750, an uptick of 2,250 from the previous week’s revised average.