US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims decline to 211K vs. 230K expected

• Initial Jobless Claims in the US decreased by 20,000 in the week ending December 10.
• US Dollar Index stays in positive territory above 104.00.

There were 211,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending December 10, the weekly data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) showed on Thursday. This print followed the previous week's print of 231,000 (revised from 230,000) and came better than the market expectation of 230,000.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average was 227,250, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average.

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 3 was 1,671,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level," the DOL noted.

Market reaction

This data failed to trigger a noticeable market reaction and the US Dollar Index was last seen rising 0.5% on the day at 104.15.