U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Drop More Than Expected

With the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a bigger than expected drop in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended September 29th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 207,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 215,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 213,000 from the 214,000 originally reported for the previous week.