U.S. jobless claims remain near record low territory, underscore strengthening labour market

U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ending February 18 rose slightly last week by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 244,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The rise was modestly above consensus expectations at 240,000.

The four-week moving average in initial claims, considered a better gauge, fell modestly, to 241,000 from 245,000, in a sign of a strengthening labor market. Continuing claims fell by 17,000, to 2.060mn, in the week ending February 11. The four-week moving average fell to 2.069mn.

It was the 103rd straight week that claims remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a healthy labor market. The four-week moving average of claims was at the lowest reading since July 1973. The labor market is at or close to full employment, with the unemployment rate at 4.8 percent.

Minutes of the Federal Reserve's Jan. 31-Feb monetary policy meeting published earlier this week showed that many policymakers believed another interest rate hike might be appropriate "fairly soon" if labor market and inflation data meet or beat expectations. Thursday's solid house price data along with signs of a strengthening labor market could allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in the near-term.

"Altogether, we see little in the recent jobless claims data to change our view on labor markets. Despite some volatility in the data around year-end, the claims data continue to point to a low rate of separation activity in labor markets and are suggestive of favorable labor market conditions overall." said Barclays capital in a report.