Prior 187K (revised to 188K)Continuing claims 1782K vs 1795K expectedPrior 1796K (revised to 1789K)
US initial jobless claims came in at 197K, below the 200K consensus estimate, while the previous week’s reading was revised up slightly to 188K from 187K. Continuing claims also surprised to the downside at 1.782 million compared to expectations of 1.795 million, with the prior week’s figure revised down to 1.789 million from 1.796 million.
The report points to continued resilience in the US labor market. Initial claims remain near historically low levels, indicating that layoffs are still limited. The downside surprise in both initial and continuing claims suggests that firms remain reluctant to reduce headcount.
The data reinforces the view that labor market conditions remain solid.
This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at investinglive.com.