Jobless Claims Fall Sharply To Five-Year Low

This is a good sign that the job market is improving.

Other data on Thursday showed a narrowing of the trade gap in March, although drops in imports and exports offered warning signs over the strength of domestic and foreign demand.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 324,000 last week, the Labor Department said.

The claims report runs counter to a growing number of signals that economic activity softened in March and April, a phenomena economists have dubbed the spring swoon because it also happened in the previous two years.

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.