Indiana Grain Company, LLC

Posted: 04/09/09

By: messany

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected last week, but so-called continued claims scaled another record high in late March, government data showed on Thursday.

In the meantime, the U.S. trade deficit shrank by 28.3 percent in February to its smallest since November 1999 while import prices rose in March, advancing for the first time in eight months, as petroleum costs increased at their fastest pace since November 2007, according to a U.S. government report showed Thursday.

Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 654,000 in the week ended April 4, from an upwardly revised 674,000 the week before, the Labor Department said.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast 660,000 new claims versus a previously reported count of 669,000 the prior week.

Source: CNBC