• Weekly initial claims and continued claims were broadly in line with expectations according to the latest report. 
• The US dollar weakened as a result of weak US GDP data and ignored the latest jobless claims figures. 

There were 180,000 initial claims in the US economy in the week ending on 23 April, in line with consensus estimates and a slight decline from last week's 185,000 reading which was revised up from 184,000, according to data released by the US Department of Labour on Thursday. That meant that the four-week average of initial claims rose to 179,750 from 177,500 a week prior. 

Continued claims in the week ending on 16 April saw a slight fall to 1.408M from 1.409M a week prior, a little above the expected drop to 1.403M. The insured unemployment rate thus came in at 1.0% in the week ending on 16 April, unchanged from a week earlier. 

Market Reaction

FX markets did not react to the latest broadly as expected jobless claims report but rather reacted to weak US growth numbers, with the US dollar weakening slightly.