Weekly jobless claims drop 7,000 to 395,000 (by Jeffry Bartash)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits dropped by 7,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 395,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Initial claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 402,000 from an original reading of 400,000. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected new claims to rise to 410,000 in the week ended Aug 6. The average of new claims over the last four weeks, viewed as a more accurate gauge of employment trends, fell by 3,250 to 405,000, the lowest level since mid-April. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the number of people who continued to receive state unemployment checks decreased by 60,000, to 3.69 million, in the week that ended July 30. A total of 7.48 million people received some kind of government benefit in the week ended July 23, including 3.70 million longtime unemployed who get extra federal benefits. That was down nearly 90,000 from the prior week.