USA: a surprise drop in jobless claims

(CercleFinance.com) - Against all expectations, the number of jobless claims in the USA fell last week, suggesting that the market is not easing as quickly as expected.


The number fell by 4,000 to 218,000 in the week to September 21, according to the Labor Department, whereas economists were expecting it to rise to around 225,000.

The previous week's figure was revised upwards by 3,000, from 219,000 to 222,000.

The four-week moving average, considered a better measure of the job market situation as it smoothes out the weekly data, was also down, by 3,500 to 224,750.

As for the number of people regularly receiving unemployment benefits, i.e. for more than a week, this rose by 13,000 to over 1.83 million at the end of the week to September 14.

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