Weekly Jobless Claims Fall

And now for your weekly jobless claims report:

Applications for jobless benefits fell by 24,000 for the week ending July 13, bringing the total to 334,000, down from last week’s revised figure of 358,000, the Labor Department announced on Thursday.

Thursday’s report marks the first decline in recent weeks.

The four-week moving average, a “less volatile” figure, fell by 5,250, bringing the total to 346,000, down from the previous average of 351,250.

“The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.4 percent for the week ending July 6, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate,” the report reads.

“The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 6 was 3,114,000, an increase of 91,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,023,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,019,250, an increase of 37,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,982,250,” it adds.

The states with the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 6 were New Jersey (4,370), California (-4,265), Texas (-3,133), North Carolina (-2,236), and Washington (-1,253).

Meanwhile, Michigan (+17,700), New York (+15,163), Pennsylvania (+4,831), Kentucky (+4,386), and Ohio (+3,771) posted the biggest decreases in initial claims.

Markets are opening higher: