WASHINGTON, Dec 31: The US economy ended the year on a high note, with labour market strength shown by falling jobless claims as the world's biggest economy stands weeks away from its longest expansion ever, says Reuters.

The Labour Department said the number of Americans filing first time claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 9,000 to 274.000 in the holiday-shortened week to Dec. 25 from a revised 283.000 in the prior week.

That sent the four-week average of new claims tumbling to a $6-year low. dropping to 279,750, the lowest since Dec 1973.

In a separate report, the Chicagoland Business Barometer fell to a seasonally adiusted 54.6 in December from 56.8 in November, according to the National Association of Purchasing Managers. A reading above 50 In indicative of a strong manufacturing sector.

These reports are consistent with what we already knew —

that economic growth remains robust through the end of the year and into next year," said James Annable. chief economist at Wingspan-Bank, com."

If, as most economist expect the expansion continues until February, the US economy will have grown for 107 consecutive months — an all-time record. The longest expansion to date was for 106 months in the 1960s, a period helped in part by the buildup to the Vietnam war.

"There is a wonderfully simple explanation for why this expansion has gone on so long and that is that inflation is so low, "Annable said. "This expansion has seen inflation decelerating for eight or nine years. Expanding inflation is what ends expansions and this one Is nowhere near ending. It's remarkable."

Going out on a limb and saying ’’no one will believe me," Annable predicted the current expansion could continue for al least another five years.