Initial jobless claims fell less than expected.
Claims, which count the number of people who applied for unemployment insurance for the first time, fell to 245,000, according to the Labor Department.
Economists were expecting claims to fall to 240,000 from the prior week’s upwardly revised 255,000.
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 242,000, an increase of 2,250 from the previous week’s revised average.