US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims jump to 264K

The US Department of Labor (DOL) released its weekly figures on Thursday, showing that there were 191,000 new claims for unemployment benefits during the week ending March 18. This print exceeded the market forecast of 201,000 and followed the previous week’s print of 192,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2%, and the 4-week moving average was 196,250, down 250 from the unrevised average from the prior week, according to further information in the release.

The US Dollar Index showed no immediate reaction to this report and was last seen losing 0.2% on the day at 102.30.