US jobless claims remain steady

Initial jobless claims fell 6k, to 275k, in the week ending September 5, in line with forecast and consensus expectations. The Labor Department reported no special factors in this week's report but did note that claims for Hawaii were estimated. Initial jobless claims are now in line with their four-week moving average at 276k. Continuing claims were nearly unchanged in the week ending August 29 at 2.260mn (previous: 2.259mn). The steady reading on continuing claims brought the series in line with its four-week trend as well and kept the insured unemployment rate unchanged at 1.7%.

"Consistently low readings for initial and continuing jobless claims suggest that the separations side of the labor market remains healthy, and we see little reason to expect a meaningful shift in labor market dynamics in the near term", says Barclays.