Initial jobless claims fell 16,000 to 278,000 in the week ended Jan. 23, the Labor Department said Thursday.
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Claims for the week ended Jan. 16 were revised up to 294,000 from the initially reported 293,000.
Continuing jobless claims were 2.268 million in the week ended Jan. 16, up from the revised 2.219 million the week before, initially reported as 2.208 million.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected 285,000 initial claims and 2.217 million continuing claims.
The four-week average of initial claims was off 2,250 in the week ended Jan. 23 to 283,000.
