U.S. weekly jobless claims total 900,000

The data from the Labor Department revealed on Thursday the number of applications for unemployment fell slightly more than forecast last week.

According to the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 26,000 to 900,000 for the week ended January 16. Still, claims remained well above pre-pandemic levels.

Economists had expected 910,000 new claims last week.

Claims for the prior week were revised downwardly to 926,000 from the initial estimate of 965,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of claims grew to 848,000 from a downwardly revised 824,500 in the previous week.

Continuing claims fell to 5,054,000 from a downwardly revised 5,181,000 in the previous week.