A new report form the Labor Department shows that new applications for unemployment benefits dropped by 19,000 to the lowest level in three and half years. Economists had been predicting a rise in claims. Economists are taking this as a sign that the economy is improving, and say that the longer joblessness claims stay this low, the more stable the economy will be.
See "Jobless Claims Drop Again", Jeffrey Sparshott and Luca Di Leo, The Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2011