The Labor Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing another modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended July 19th.

The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 217,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 221,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 227,000.

With the unexpected dip, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 216,000 in the week ended April 12th.

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also slipped to 224,500, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 229,500.

Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, crept up by 4,000 to 1.955 million in the week ended July 12th.

The four-week moving average of continuing claims still fell to 1,954,000, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average of 1,956,250.

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