After reporting only slight shifts in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits over the past few weeks, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that initial jobless claims unexpectedly dropped to a two-month low in the week ended September 17th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 252,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 260,000. The decline surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to inch up to 262,000.

With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting a matching figure in the week ended July 16th.

The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also dipped to 258,500, a drop of 2,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 260,750.

The decrease pulled the four-week moving average down to its lowest level since hitting 256,500 in the week ended July 23rd.

Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also fell by 36,000 to 2.113 million in the week ended September 10th.

Additionally, the four-week moving average of continuing claims slid to 2,140,250, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised average of 2,148,250.

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