The U.S. Labor Department released its jobless claims figures on Wednesday. The number of initial jobless claims in the week ending November 21 in the U.S. fell by 12,000 to 260,000 from 272,000 in the previous week, exceeding expectations for a decline to 270,000. The previous week's figure was revised up from 271,000.

Jobless claims remained below 300,000 the 38th straight week. This threshold is associated with the strengthening of the labour market.

Continuing jobless claims increased by 34,000 to 2,207,000 in the week ended November 14.