US Weekly Initial Jobless Claims Decline Below Expectations

There were 166,000 Initial Jobless Claims in the US in the week ending on 2 April, the latest release from the US Department of Labour on Thursday showed, a record low.

That was well below the median economist forecast for a reading of 200,000 and a steep drop from the prior week’s 202,000. That meant the four-week average fell to 170,000 from 178,000 the week before.

Continued Claims, meanwhile, rose to 1.523M in the week ending on 26 March, well above the consensus forecast for 1.311M and a small jump from the prior week’s 1.506M reading, which had been revised significantly higher from 1.307M. That meant the insured unemployment rate came in at 1.1%, unchanged versus the prior week (though this was revised higher from 0.9%).

Financial markets did not seem to react to the latest mixed US jobless claims figures, which showed initial claims dropping to a fresh record low, but saw continued claims coming in a massive 2M higher than expected.