U.S. jobless claims continue to be higher in September due to hurricane effects

U.S. jobless claims continue to be elevated amid hurricane effects. For the week ended 9 September, initial jobless claims came in at 284k, slightly lower than consensus expectations of 300k. The past episodes of hurricanes have indicated that jobless claims usually rise in the weeks after the landfall.

With disruptions to production and employment expected in the short-run, claims are expected to stay at elevated levels until activity returns to a normal rate in the impacted regions, noted Barclays in a research report.

Meanwhile, continuing claims dropped to 1944k from 1951k for the week ended 2 September. The insured jobless rate stayed unchanged at 1.4 percent.

State-wise, claims rose in a few states such as Indiana, Iowa and Pennsylvania. Jobless claims in Texas, which was the state worst impacted by Hurricane Harvey, dropped but stayed higher than normal.

At 15:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was slightly bullish at 70.5188. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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