Initial jobless claims dropped 15,000 to 330,000 in the week ended January 4, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Claims for the week ended December 28 were revised up to 345,000 from the initially reported 339,000.
Continuing jobless claims were 2.865 million in the week ended December 28, up from the downwardly revised 2.815 million the week before, first reported as 2.833 million.
The four-week average of initial claims fell 9,750 in the week ended January 4 to 349,000.











