By Mucahithan Avcioglu
ISTANBUL (AA) - The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims fell by 5,000 to 227,000 last week, according to Labor Department data released on Thursday.
The figure came below market forecasts of 236,000 and was down from the previous week's downwardly revised level of 232,000.
The four-week moving average was 235,500 – a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's downwardly revised level of 241,250.
In June, the US economy added 147,000 jobs, higher than forecasts of 111,000.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in June from 4.2% in May, below market estimates.