• Initial Jobless Claims in the US increased by 2,000 in the week ending December 17.
• US Dollar Index posts small daily gains above 104.00.

There were 216,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending December 17, the weekly data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) showed on Thursday. This print followed the previous week's print of 214,000 (revised from 211,000).

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average was 221,750, a decrease of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average.

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 10 was 1,672,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level," the DOL noted.

Market reaction

US Dollar Index inches higher after the report and was last seen posting small daily gains at 104.30.