U.S. Jobless Claims Fell by 26,000 Last Week

The FINANCIAL — The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to its lowest level since November, a sign of improvement for a labor market grappling with unusually harsh weather, according to NASDAQ OMX, exchange company.

Initial claims for jobless benefits, a measure of layoffs, fell 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000 in the week ended March 1. That was less than the 335,000 forecast by economists and helped lower the four-week moving average of claims, which smoothes out volatile weekly data, by 2,000 to 336,500.

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Claims had been trending higher in recent weeks. A Labor analyst said there were no special factors to report on last week's data, according to NASDAQ OMX.

The number of continuing unemployment benefit claims–those drawn by workers for more than a week–fell 8,000 to 2,907,000 in the week ended Feb. 22. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.

The sign of improvement in the labor market comes ahead of the Labor Department's closely watched gauge of new hiring on Friday. Economists expect the report to show employers added 152,000 jobs in February. That would be a big step up from the prior two months but still low by historical standards, according to NASDAQ OMX.

Numerous economic indicators have been flashing warning signals in recent months, though economists believe unusually cold and stormy weather across much of the country is at least partly to blame.

Bad weather has slowed product shipments, prevented many people from getting to work and dissuaded consumers from getting out and spending, according to NASDAQ OMX.

In its Thursday report on jobless claims, the Labor Department said a sharp decline in claims reported by Oregon in the week of Feb. 22 reflected a return to "recent trend levels" after the prior week's increase "due to inclement weather." State-specific detail is provided with a one-week delay.

Federal Reserve officials are watching labor-market readings to decide how to dial back their bond-buying program, which is designed to keep interest rates low and spur the economy. At their January meeting, they agreed to cut the bond purchases by another $10 billion to $65 billion, according to NASDAQ OMX.