US initial jobless claims 233K vs 240K expected

• Prior week 249K (revised to 250K)
• initial jobless claims 233K versus 240K estimate.
• 4-week moving average of initial jobless claims 240,750 vs 238,250 last week
• Continuing claims 1.875M versus 1.870M expected
• Prior week continuing jobless claims 1.877M (revised to 1.869m)
• 4-week moving average of continuing claims 1.862M vs 1.855M last week

There was a decrease of 17K from the previous week’s revised level, suggesting the pop was more about the hurricane than underlying trends. While the drop in new claims is positive, the rise in ongoing claims suggests some workers are taking longer to find new employment.

There was some real angst about this data given the recent rise but this has put the genie back in the bottle and that’s led to a pop in the US dollar.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.