Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace in the week ended 22 August, according to the Labor Department, with initial jobless claims dropping by 4,000 to 203,000.
Source: Sharecast
Last week's reading was below market expectations of rise to 208,000, holding the trend of low claim counts since dropping to an almost 60-year low of 189,000 in mid-July.
Elsewhere, continuing claims fell by 18,000 to 1.778m, also below expectations, while the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, rose by 1,250 to 205,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% for the week ended 15 August, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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