According to the report, the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits fell by 42,000 to 338,000 last week from 380,000 a week earlier.
The number of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits had risen since early this month when the figure stood at 369,000, up 64,000 from 305,000 tallied in the last week of November.
U.S. stocks were poised to open higher Thursday, as Wall Street returned from the Christmas holiday.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com