Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace in the week ended 27 December, according to the Labor Department.
Source: Sharecast
Initial jobless claims fell by 16,000 week-on-week to a seasonally adjusted reading of 199,000, down from the prior week's upwardly revised reading of 215,000 and versus market forecasts for an increase to 220,000.
Continuing claims dropped by 47,000 to 1.86m from the prior week's revised print, while the four week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, came in at 218,750, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate came in at 1.2% for the week ending 20 December, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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