Initial filings for unemployment benefits in Illinois dropped last week compared with the week prior, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday. New jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 10,403 in the week ending January 25, down from 13,627 the week before, the Labor Department said.

While job opportunities are becoming harder to find, the low layoff rate meant better results than the Labor Department's forecast.

Fewer Americans filed for initial jobless benefits last week, according to the Department of Labor, evidence the U.S. has continued to avoid a serious uptick in layoffs. The week through Jan. 25 brought 207,

Weekly applications for unemployment insurance in the US dropped unexpectedly, while continuing claims also fell, government data showed Thursday. The seasonally adjusted number of initial claims decreased by 16,

Ahead of Thursday’s open, we see a drop in the blue-chip Dow index — perhaps a function of market participants spending more time with Big Tech stocks, many of which are posting, or have posted, earnings this week.