The U.S. labour market showed a positive sign in the week ended on March 9 as the total number of initial claims for unemployment benefits decreased surprisingly in the week, a report released by the Labor Department showed on Thursday. The report showed that first-time jobless claims went down by 10,000, when it dropped from 342,000 to 332,000, while economists forecast a rise to 350,000.
"The rate of job destruction is pretty low," said chief economist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida, Scott Brown. "The labour market is in continued-recovery mode, though there is still a lot of ground to make up."