The number of workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly four years, one of a series of reports offering mostly positive signs about the U.S. economy.
Initial unemployment claims dropped by 13,000 to 348,000 in the week ended Feb. 11, the Labor Department said Thursday. The decline in the weekly report was the third in a row and carried new jobless claims to their lowest level since early March 2008, before the financial crisis broke out that year....