U.S. initial jobless claims rise slightly in mid-December, hint at sound labor markets

The initial jobless claims in U.S. rose last week. For the week ended 15 December, initial jobless claims rose 8k to 214k, bringing the four-week moving average to 222k from 225k a week ago. The week ended 15 December is the survey week for December employment report and the claims data show a fairly neutral picture compared to the November survey week.

At 214k, initial claims are 11k lower than the November survey week; however, the four-week moving average is 3k higher than in November. Nevertheless, the backup in claims that took place in October and November, where initial claims rose from 210k to 235k, appears to have reversed and there are no negative signal take regarding the state of labor markets from trends in claims in this period, said Barclays in a research report.

The rise in claims occurred during a period of increased volatility in financial markets and might possibly have hinted that tighter financial conditions were spilling over into spending and hiring decisions by companies.

Nevertheless, this does not seem to be the case at present, and the main signal from claims data appear to show the labor market conditions as healthy. Meanwhile, continuing claims were up 27k to 1.688 million in the week ended 8 December and the four-week moving average rose to 1.673 million from 1.666 million in the previous week. The insured jobless rate remained stable at 1.2 percent for the second straight week.

At 17:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was slightly bearish at -56.3371. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex