U.S. weekly jobless claims fall to 357,000 (by Jeffry Bartash)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of Americans who filed requests for jobless benefits fell by 6,000 last week to 357,000, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had projected claims would total 360,000, seasonally adjusted, in the week ended March 31. Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 363,000 from 359,000. The average of new-benefit applications over the past four weeks, meanwhile, dropped by 4,250 to 361,750. Continuing claims decreased by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.34 million in the week ended March 24, the Labor Department said. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag. About 7.05 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week ended March 17, down 107,760 from the prior week. Total claims are reported with a two-week lag.