US initial jobless claims come in below market expectations

Americans unexpectedly filed unemployment claims at a decelerated rate in the week ended 11 February and remained near a nine-month low.

Initial jobless claims dropped to 194,000, according to the Department of Labor, down from the previous week's downwardly revised level of 195,000 and below market expectations for a print of 200,000.

Continuing claims increased to 1.69m in the week ended 4 February, up from 1.68m in the previous week, while the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, came to 189,500 - an increase of 500 from the previous week's downwardly revised average of 189,000.

The figures indicate that the US labour market remains tight, partly due to reduced labour force participation, which may very well force employers to raise wages in order to attract and retain staff.

Elsewhere, the Labor Department said the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% for the week ending 4 February, unchanged from the previous week's reading.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, claims fell 9,000 to 225,000, with the largest decreases seen in California, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com