US weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rise

Jobless claims in the US unexpectedly rose to 277,000 in the week to 15 August from 273,000 the previous week, the Labor Department revealed on Thursday.

The figure missed analysts' estimates for 272,000 jobless claims last week.

"The insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.7% in the latest week," analysts at Barclays said in a note.

"Taken together, the details of this morning’s report support our view that labor market slack has continued to decline