U.S. initial jobless claims fall below expectations in mid-February

U.S. initial jobless claims drop last week, coming in below expectations. In the week ended 16 February, the initial jobless claims dropped 23k to 216k. The weekly initial claims data have been quite volatile in recent months, possibly due to several factors, including seasonal adjustment factors around year-end and the timing of the federal government shutdown, which might have had spill-over effects on private sector contractors.

This has been taking place against a backdrop of generally waning fiscal stimulus, which is expected will lead to a deceleration in hiring over time and some rise in initial claims back to levels seen in 2017. The four-week moving average, which aids in smoothing through some of the week-to-week volatility, rose to 236k from 232k a week ago and is widely in line with the view, noted Barclays in a research report.

Meanwhile, continuing claims in the week ended 9 February dropped 55k to 1.725 million from 1.780 million a week earlier. The insured jobless rate remained stable at 1.2 percent.

At 18:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at 11.1851 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex