Initial claims for jobless benefits fell 1,000 to 301,000 after seasonal adjustments, marking the fourth-straight weekly decline to a four-month low, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

Economists had expected a sharp increase of 19,000, the Wall Street Journal said.

The Labor report said the number of workers drawing unemployment benefits for more than one week fell 75,000 to 2.672 million in the week ended Jan. 12. That's the biggest weekly decline since May 5.