CNN BUSINESS | Weekly jobless claims fall to a nearly 53-year low

New York (CNN Business) – Just 187,000 people in the United States filed for initial weekly unemployment benefits last week, lower than economists’ expectations of 210,000, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Labor.

The last time the weekly number was that low was September 6, 1969, shortly after Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon and hippies were rocking out to Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. Back then, 182,000 people filed for jobless benefits.

The latest jobless claims total was also down from an upwardly revised 215,000 in the previous week. The labor market remains a bright spot in the US economy, even as consumers are feeling the pinch of higher oil and gas prices and other inflation pressures.  –read more–