US: Initial Jobless Claims rose more than expected

• Initial Jobless Claims rose by 214K in the third week of the year.
• Continuing Jobless Claims also surpassed estimates.

US citizens that applied for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 214K in the week ending January 20 according to the US Department of Labor (DoL) on Thursday. The reading came in above market consensus and follows a 189K gain in the previous week.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average stood at 202.25K, a decrease of 1.5K from the previous week's revised average.

In addition, Continuing Claims increased by 27K to 1.833M in the week ended January 13.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index kept the daily range in the low 103.00s soon after the publication of weekly labour market data, extending the leg lower sparked on Wednesday.