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Initial jobless claims fell by 11,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The decline put claims for the week ended Saturday at 445,000, below the 455,000 projected by economists, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 455,570, from 458,750 the week before.

Continuing claims for the previous week ended Sept. 25 dropped by 48,000 from a week earlier, to 4.46 million, the lowest since June 26.