US weekly jobless claims drop below 800,000

US jobless claims in the week ended 20 February came in shy of economists' forecasts on Thursday, according to the Department of Labor.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of Americans filing for unemployment claims fell for the first time in five weeks, coming in at 730,000 - an improvement on last week's revised print of 841,000 and better than expectations for a reading of 825,000.

The largest increases in initial claims were in Illinois, Ohio, Idaho, Kansas and California, while the largest decreases were in Maryland, Rhode Island, Georgia, New Jersey and Texas.

The four-week moving average of initial claims fell to 807,750 for a decrease of 20,500 from the prior week.

Secondary unemployment claims, which tally those not being filed for the first time, also continued to retreat, declining by 101,000 to 4.42m.