jobless

That was slightly higher than the 425,000 that economists had expected. The 4-week moving average increased 500 to 426,750.

In the year-ago week, there were a seasonally adjusted 472,000 initial jobless claims.

The insured unemployed, those receiving state unemployment checks, fell 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.7 million for the week ended June 18th.

Initial jobless claims for the week ended June 25 were 428,000 seasonally adjusted, down from the previous week's unrevised figure of 429,000, the Department of Labor reported today.

The unemployment rate fell to 8.8% in March, vs. the expectation for the rate to increase slightly to 9.0%.

That is the lowest unemployment rate reported by the Department of Labor since March of 2009.

Average hourly earnings and the average workweek were unchanged at $22.87, and 34.4 hours, respectively.

Job growth accelerated faster than expected in March, as payrolls increased 216,000, higher than the 192,000-job gain expected by economists.

The prior week's claims were revised up to 401,000.

Claims have averaged 386,250 over the past four weeks, which is the lowest level since July of 2008.

The number of workers who continue to receive unemployment compensation decreased by 80,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.71 million in the week of March 5.

The Labor Department reported that new applications for state jobless benefits fell by 16,000 last week to 385,000. Economists had expected first-time claims to fall to a seasonally adjusted 389,000 in the week ended March 12.

Economists on average had expected first-time claims to reach 395,000, up from last week's guided level of 388,000. Claims averaged 388,500 over the past four weeks, the lowest one month average since July 2008.

The 27% decline in claims since August 2010 shows a pattern of modest hiring but fewer layoff.

Continuing claims have also fallen, declining 59,000 to 3.77 million in the week of Feb. 19.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial U.S. jobless claims fell by 20,000 to 368,000, the lowest level since May 2008, in the week of February 26th.

The Federal government will report its February non-farm payroll numbers on Friday, and economists are expecting a gain of 200,000 jobs for an official unemployment rate of 9.1%.

February employment in the private sector rose by 217,000 according to an Automatic Data Processing report. Service sector employment rose 202,000, while employment in the goods-producing sector rose 15,000. The company revised it

U.S. stock futures remain lower, an indication of early broad-market weakness as oil remains above $100 a barrel. Futures did trim losses a bit but then resumed their decline as a report showed a drop in the weekly and the four-we

Monday, February 14th kicks off earnings reports from MGM Resorts (MGM) before the opening bell and Agilent Technologies (A), Marriott (MAR), and FMC Technologies (FTI) after market close. No major economic reports are scheduled f

On Tuesday, February 15th, you can expect Sirius XM Radio's (SIRI) earnings report early on the morning. Rovi Corp (ROVI), Tesla Motors (TSLA), Allscripts Healthcare (MDRX), and Dell (DELL) will be reporting their earnings in the

Here's a look at earnings and economic data for the week of February 14th.

Initial jobless claims fell by 36,000 to 383,000 in the week ending February 5th.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that the central bank will press on with its $600 billion stimulus program because of stubbornly high unemployment, but also acknowledged that the bank is keeping a wary eye out

New York led the country with 22,800 job cuts last month, followed by Minnesota with 22,400 firings, and Florida with 17,900 according to figures from the report.

West Virginia had the most increase joblessness, up 0.3%, followed by Colorado, Georgia and Nevada, up 0.2% each. Nevada also showed the highest jobless rate in the country at 14.5%.

The Labor Department reported that payrolls decreased in 35 U.S. states while the unemployment rate rose in 20, showing that the labor market recovery is slow to gather momentum, according to a Bloomberg report.