US initial jobless claims down 10,000 last week

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell by 10,000 last week to 214,000, according to the US Labor Department data released Wednesday.

Markets expected the figure to stay unchanged at the previous week's 224,000.

The four-week moving average was 216,750 – a decrease of 750 from the previous week's 217,500.

The number of continuing unemployment benefit claims rose to 1.923 million in the same period from 1.885 million the previous week.

The US economy added 64,000 jobs in November, after a loss of 105,000 in October.

The unemployment rate was up to 4.6% in November, the highest in about four years, from 4.4% in September, above expectations.