• Initial Jobless Claims in the US decreased by 4,000 in the week ending May 20.
• US Dollar Index clings to daily gains above 104.00.

There were 229,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending May 20, the weekly data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) showed on Thursday. This print followed the previous week's print of 225,000 (revised from 242,000) and came in better than the market expectation of 245,000.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average was 231,750, unchanged from the previous week's revised average.

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 13 was 1,794,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 1,799,000," the DOL further added in its press release.

Market reaction

The US Dollar continues to outperform its rivals after this data and the US Dollar Index was last seen rising 0.25% on the day at 104.15.