Seasonally adjusted initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell more than expected to 204,000 in the week ended Sept. 7, compared to the prior week's upwardly revised figure of 219,000, data from the the U.S. Labor Department showed.
The consensus estimate of economists polled by Econoday was for a reading of 215,000.
The four-week moving average decreased to 212,500 from the prior revised reading of 216,750.
In the week ended Aug. 31, the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate, which measures the proportion of the labor force receiving unemployment benefits, was unchanged at 1.2%. The insured unemployment figure was 1,670,000, down from the prior week's revised number of 1,674,000.
