US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims fall to 184K vs. 215K expected

• Initial Jobless Claims fell to 184K last week according to the DoL
• That marked the lowest such reading since 1969.  

There were 184,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the US during the week ending December 4, data published by the US Department of Labor (DoL) revealed on Thursday. That marked a new post-pandemic low. and, indeed, was the lowest such reading since 1969. This reading followed last week's print of 227K (revised from 222K) and came in well below market expectations for 215K.

Continued jobless claims rose to 1.992M in the week ending November 27, the data showed, above expectations for a drop to 1.90M from 1.954M the week prior. As a result, the insured unemployment rate rose to 1.5% in the week ending November 27 from 1.4% the week prior.

Market Reaction

The Dollar Index (DXY) saw some positive ticks in wake of the stronger than expected data, rising from 96.06 to above 96.10. The data further strengthens the narrative that the US labour market is very strong/tight at the moment, in wake of last Friday's mostly strong jobs report and Wednesday's much higher than expected job openings number.