Jobless claims at lowest point in four years

New jobless claims for the week ending February 25 fell to 351,000, according to information from the Department of Labor.

Claims were down from the previous week's revised level of 353,000, the report showed. The moving four-week average also fell, with 5,500 fewer claims compared with the previous week. Revised numbers for the week ending February 18 also showed a slight drop in seasonally adjusted jobless claims. Those numbers fell by 2,000 to end the week at just over 3.4 million, according to the Labor Department.

These numbers represent the lowest amount of new jobless claims since March 2008, according to a Bloomberg analysis of the Labor Department figures. That same analysis also showed personal incomes nationwide rose an average of 0.3 percent in January, at the same time that overall purchases rose 0.2 percent.

Prospective home sales also rose in January as mortgage interest rates hit an all time low, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. With consumers' incomes on the rise and interest rates on the decline, more consumers appear to be packing up their belongings and moving into a new home, the report suggests.