Jobless Claims Slip To 545,000

The U.S. Labor Department revealed that initial jobless claims came in at 545,000 for the week ended September 12. This was down 12,000 from the previous week's revised total.

Economists had expected claims to rise to about 575,000.

Continuing claims, which measures the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment help, rose 129,000 to 6.23 million.