The number of jobless Americans who had filed for claims last week held nearly a six year low. Meanwhile, US manufacturing activity increased this month. This suggested that the economy had started to find firmer footing.

Last Thursday, data from the Labor Department showed that initial claims from jobless people increased to 13,000 to 336,000. This was just above the level that economists had expected shown in a Reuters poll.

The four week moving average for claims of jobless benefits dropped to its lowest level since November 2007, despite the increase. The data backed the widely held view about the growth of the US economy. The growth was said to accelerate in the second half of this year with stronger pace of hiring in August.

Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York said, "The trend in the data has been signaling some recent improvement in the labor market."