• Initial Jobless Claims rose by 187K in the second week of the year.
• Continuing Jobless Claims also retreated in the week to January 6.

US citizens that applied for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 187K in the week ending January 13, the lowest reading since late September 2022, showed the US Department of Labor (DoL) on Thursday. The reading came in below market estimates and follows a 203K gain in the previous week.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average stood at 203.25K, a decrease of 4.750K from the previous week's revised average.

In addition, Continuing Claims dropped by 26K to 1.806M in the week ended January 6.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index rose to a new intraday high past 102.50 soon after the publication of weekly labour market data, maintaining the weekly constructive tone unchanged.