US: Initial Jobless Claims increased less than estimated last week

• Initial Jobless Claims rose by 201K from a week earlier.
• Continuing Jobless Claims also surprised to the downside.

US citizens that applied for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 201K in the week ending February 17 according to the US Department of Labor (DoL) on Thursday. Once again, the prints came in on the strong side and followed a 213K gain in the previous week.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% (from 1.3%) and the 4-week moving average stood at 215.25, a decrease of 3.500K from the previous week's revised average.

In addition, Continuing Claims decreased by 27K to 1.862M in the week ended February 10.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index regained strength and rose to the 104.00 region following the earlier drop to the 103.40 zone.