US: Initial Jobless Claims surpassed expectations last week

• Initial Jobless Claims rose by 242K vs. the previous week.
• Continuing Jobless Claims rose by more than 1.80M.

US citizens that applied for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 242K in the week ending June 8 according to the US Department of Labor (DoL) on Thursday. The prints surpassed initial estimates (225K) and the previous weekly gain of 229K (unrevised).

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average was 227K, an increase of 4.75K from the previous week's unrevised average.

In addition, Continuing Claims increased by 30K to 1.820M in the week ended June 1.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index (DXY) trades slightly on the positive tone around 104.80, reversing part of Wednesday’s sharp retracement in the wake of US CPI data and the FOMC event.