US jobless claims fell 34,000

The number of US workers seeking first-time jobless claims plunged last week, as expected, after surging the prior week during the start of the holiday season, a government report showed on Thursday.
First-time initial claims fell by 34,000 to a seasonally adjusted 324,000 in the week ended December 2, down from a revised 358,000 in the previous week, the Labour Department said. The decline was in line with the forecasts from Wall Street economists who were expecting claims to fall to 325,000 from the originally reported 357,000 for the week ended November 25. "There is nothing really disturbing in this report," said Robert Brusca, chief economist for Fact and Opinion Economics in New York.