First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by much more than anticipated in the week ended January 12th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.

The report showed that initial jobless claims fell to 335,000, a decrease of 37,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 372,000.

Economists had been expecting jobless claims to show a much more modest decrease to 368,000 from the 371,000 originally reported for the previous week.