U.S. jobless claims rise slightly, overall trend continues to be favorable

The U.S. jobless claims rose modestly. The initial and continuing claims data imply that labor market conditions have rebounded a bit so far in 2017, noted Barclays. In the week ended 24 June, the initial jobless claims rose by 2000 to 244k, coming in modestly above the consensus forecast of 240k. At 244k, the initial jobless claims stand around where they were in December (241k).

Initial claims data for the earlier week were also upwardly revised by 1k to 242k. In spite of the modest increase in claims and small upward revision to the earlier week, the four-week moving average dropped by 3000 to 242k from 245k a week ago. For the week ended 17 June, the continuing claims also rose slightly to 1.948 million from 1.942 million a week prior, while the four-week moving average rose by 7k to 1.939 million. However, the insured jobless rate remained stable at 1.4 percent for the eleventh consecutive week.

State-wise, initial claims data remained quite balanced with 28 states recording rises in initial claims against 25 reporting drops. Ohio, California, Iowa and New York recorded the largest rises, while Maryland, Arizona, Georgia and Michigan recorded the biggest drops.

“The improvement in continuing claims has been more noticeable, with continuing claims and the four-week average in continuing claims about 135k below year-end values”, stated Barclays.

At 16:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was slightly bearish at -60.3358. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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