• Initial Jobless Claims rose by 215K from a week earlier.
• Continuing Jobless Claims also surprised to the upside.

US citizens that applied for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 215K in the week ending February 24 according to the US Department of Labor (DoL) on Thursday. The prints came in short of initial estimates and followed a 202K gain in the previous week.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3% (from 1.2%) and the 4-week moving average stood at 212.50K, a decrease of 3.000K from the previous week's revised average.

In addition, Continuing Claims increased by 45K to 1.905M in the week ended February 17.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index (DXY) gyrates around the 103.80 zone following the weaker-than-expected report from the US labour market, trading almost unchanged from Wednesday’s closing level.