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Claims for jobless benefits slide as import prices rise

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From Reuters

The number of U.S. workers seeking initial jobless benefits fell 20,000 last week and import prices rose last month despite a drop in oil prices, suggesting a resilient economy still facing inflation risks.

The sharper-than-expected drop in first-time claims for unemployment aid took initial filings down to 304,000 in the week ended Dec. 9, the lowest since mid-October, a Labor Department report showed Thursday.

A separate report from the agency showed that U.S. import prices posted a surprising 0.2% rise in November, even though oil import prices fell. Analysts had expected prices to hold steady.

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The jobless claims data suggested that the labor market remains solid, economist Brian Sack of Macroeconomic Advisers said.

Although economists cautioned that holiday-season volatility made it difficult to be certain of the underlying trend in layoffs, a four-week moving average of jobless claims offered a further suggestion of solid labor-market conditions. The average slipped 1,500 to 327,250 last week from 328,750 the previous week.

The report on November imports showed a 0.7% gain in non-petroleum prices, the biggest jump since May.

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Natural gas import prices shot up 30.3%, the steepest climb since November 2004. Prices for non-petroleum industrial supplies and materials rose 2.9%, the biggest rise since October 2005.

Petroleum import prices fell 1.6%, the third monthly decline. However, petroleum prices were up 1.5% for the year that ended in November. The report also showed that export prices rose a greater-than-expected 0.4%.

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