US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims rise to 719K vs. 680K expected

• Weekly Initial Jobless Claims in the US increased by 61,000.
• US Dollar Index edges lower toward 93.00 after the data.

There were 719,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the US during the week ending March 27, the data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) revealed on Thursday. This reading followed the previous print of 658,000 (revised from 684,000) and came in worse than the market expectation of 680,000.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index edged lower with the initial reaction and was last seen losing 0.15% on a daily basis at 93.09.

Additional takeaways

"The 4-week moving average was 719,000, a decrease of 10,500 from the previous week's revised average."

"This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020, when it was 225,500."

"The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7% for the week ending March 20."

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 20 was 3,794,000, a decrease of 46,000 from the previous week's revised level."