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A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits declined roughly in line with economist estimates in the week ended December 13th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 224,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level of 237,000. Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 217,500, an increase of 500 from the previous week's revised average of 217,000. Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also rose by 67,000 to 1.897 million in the week ended December 6th. The four-week moving average of continuing claims still fell to 1.902 million, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised average of 1.916 million. Powered by Commodity Insights
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