• There were 222K initial weekly jobless claims in the week ending 27 November. 
• That was less than an expected rise to 240K from last week's 194K. 

There were 222,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the US during the week ending November 27, data published by the US Department of Labor (DoL) revealed on Wednesday. This reading followed last week's print of 194,000 (revised from 199,000) and came in lower than the market's expectation for 240,000.

Continued jobless claims fell to 1.956M in the week ending November 20, the data showed, below expectations for a drop to 2.00M from 2.063M the week prior. That marked a fresh post-pandemic low. 

Market Reaction

The dollar saw a very minimal reaction to the data, which fits in with the narrative that the US labour market is currently very healthy/tight.