Jobless claims inch lower, but continuing claims plunge

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly dipped only 1,000 to 530,000 for the week ending October 24, but continuing claims plunged 148,000 to 5.797 million, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected initial jobless claims to fall to 525,000 this week. Meanwhile, the four-week moving average for initial jobless claims decreased 6,000 to 526,250.

A year ago, initial jobless claims totaled 485,000 and continuing claims totaled 3.773 million.