By Jeffry Bartash
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who filed initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 16,000 to 453,000 in the latest week, putting new claims back to where they were at the start of 2010, according to U.S. Labor Department data. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected initial claims to rise to a seasonally adjusted 460,000 in the week ended Sept. 25. Claims for last week were revised up by 4,000 to 469,000. The four-week moving average of new claims fell 6,250 to 458,000, the lowest level since late July. Continuing claims dropped 83,000 to 4.46 million in the week ended Sept. 18. Altogether, 8.89 million people were getting some kind of benefit in the week ended Sept. 11, down from 9.18 million in the prior week.
