The data from the Labor Department revealed on Thursday the number of applications for unemployment unexpectedly fell last week.

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 89,000 to 803,000 for the week ended December 19. Economists had expected 885,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 892,000 from the initial estimate of 885,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims rose to 818,250 from an upwardly revised 814,250 in the previous week.

Continuing claims dropped to 5,337,000 million from a downwardly revised 5,507,000 in the previous week.