U.S. initial jobless claims fall slightly, continue to indicate towards strong labor markets

U.S. initial jobless claims dropped slightly in the start of November. In the week ended 3 November, jobless claims fell to 214k from an upwardly revised 215k for the prior week. The four-week moving average for claims came in at 214k, close to recent recovery lows and indicates towards very low rates of job separations.

Meanwhile, continuing claims for the week ended 27 October dropped to 1.623 million from 1.631 million, and the insured jobless rate remained stable at 1.1 percent. Overall, there was little new information in today’s report, and broad takeaway was continuing strength in US labor markets, noted Barclays in a research report.

At 18:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was slightly bullish at 63.7443. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex