Jobless claims hold at a high level

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, which could ease fears of a marked deterioration in labour market conditions after a surprise stumble in job growth in March.

Falling global oil prices might be about to affect a lot more than just stock prices in 2016. If we're right, they're on the verge of significantly affecting the pace of job layoffs in the eight U.S. states that have high cost oil production industries as measured by the seasonally adjusted number of claims for new unemployment insurance benefits filed each week.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New claims for unemployment benefit

New claims for US unemployment benefits held steady last week, the government said Thursday in a report showing the ailing labor market is slowly improving.Initial jobless claims totaled 351,000 in the week ending February 18, unchanged from the prior week's figure, which was revised from the original estimate of 348,000, the Labor Department said.In a fresh sign of improvement, the four-week moving average of initial jobless claims, which helps smooth out volatility in the weekly numbers, fell by 7,000 to 359,000.