US initial jobless claims fall to better‑than‑expected 197,000.


Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace in the week ended 26 September, according to the Labor Department, extending recent resilience in the labour market.

Source: Sharecast

Initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 197,000, better than expectations for an increase to 200,000 and in keeping with a recent run of low claim counts since hitting an almost 60-year low of 189,000 in mid July.

Continuing claims fell by 11,000 week-on-week to 1.7m, below expectations of 1.71m, while the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, came in at 200,000, a decrease of 2,500 from the prior week.

The Labor Department also said the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.1% for the week ended 19 September, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised print.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

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