Initial Jobless Claims in the week ending on 26 March came in at 202,000, a tad above the expected reading of 197,000 and up versus the previous week's 188,000 print. Continued Jobless Claims fell to 1.307M in the week ending on March 19, below the expected rise to 1.35M from 1.342M the week prior. The Insured Unemployment Rate fell to 0.9% in the week ending on March 19 from 1.0% a week earlier.

Market Reaction

Further robust US labour market data underpins the notion that the jobs market in the US right now is hot and that Friday's official jobs report should be a good one. FX markets have not reacted to the latest data, as the current strength of the US labour market right now is widely understood and known to be strong, and is well priced in by markets. Indeed, assumptions of continue labour market strength underpin the Fed's recent shift towards signalling faster and larger interest rate hikes in the coming years.