US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims decline to 444K vs. 450K expected

  • Weekly Initial Jobless Claims in the US decreased by 44,000.
  • US Dollar Index stays in the negative territory near 90.00.

There were 444,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the US during the week ending May 15, the data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) revealed on Thursday. This reading came in better than the market expectation of 450,000 and followed the previous print of 478,000 (revised from 473,000).

Market reaction

This report was largely ignored by market participants and the US Dollar Index was last seen losing 0.2% on the day at 90.00.

Additional takeaways

"The 4-week moving average was 504,750, a decrease of 30,500 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020, when it was 225,500."

"The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7% for the week ending May 8, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week's unrevised rate."

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 8 was 3,751,000, an increase of 111,000 from the previous week's revised level." 

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