May 15 (Bloomberg) — The fewest Americans in seven years filed applications for unemployment benefits and consumer prices rose by the most in 10 months, adding to signs the economy gaining momentum.

Jobless claims dropped by 24,000 to 297,000 in the week ended May 10, less than any economist projected in a Bloomberg survey and the least since May 2007, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. The consumer price index increased 0.3 percent in April, the biggest advance since June, after rising 0.2 percent the prior month.

"The way the job market continues to improve, the number of people collecting benefits keeps going down," said Brian Jones, senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale in New York. "The labor market is fine." Jones had the lowest forecast in the Bloomberg survey, at 303,000.

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