Initial US weekly unemployment claims fall further

Two key indicators of the US labour market tightened further last week.

Initial weekly unemployment claims fell by 4,000 to reach 232,000 during the week ending 13 May, according to the Department of Labor.

Economists had penciled in a rise to 240,000.

The four-week moving average, which aims to smoothe-out the volatility in the figures from one week to the next, declined by 2,750 to hit 243,500.

Secondary unemployment claims, those which are not filed for the first time and referencing the week before, decreased by 22,000 to 1.898m - the least since November 1988.