US Initial Jobless Claims Drop for the First Time in Three Weeks

Applications for US unemployment benefits fell for the first time in three weeks, suggesting employers are still largely holding on to their workers.

Initial claims decreased by 9,000 to 218,000 in the week ended Feb. 3, according to Labor Department data out Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 220,000.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving unemployment benefits, dropped to 1.87 million in the week that ended on Jan. 27.

The labor market has proved surprisingly robust in recent months, powering consumer spending. But recent high-profile job-cut announcements from ...