The number of Americans submitting applications for jobless benefits unexpectedly declined last week to match the fewest in four decades. Initial unemployment claims dropped by 7,000 to 255,000 in the week ended Oct. 10, a Labor Department report showed Thursday. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 270,000 applications. The decline brought the monthly average to its lowest level since December 1973. “There is an extremely low level of layoff activity going on right now,” Tom Simons, an economist at Jefferies LLC in New York, said before the report. “Most employers are running pretty ... (full story)