THE number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits dipped to the lowest in a month last week, consistent with a cooling but still-healthy US labor market that is likely to keep Federal Re-serve (Fed) officials from cutting interest rates any further in the near term.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 219,000 for the week ended Dec. 21, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had fore-cast 224,000 claims for the latest week.
