US initial jobless claims rise by 5,000

Americans filed first-time unemployment claims at an accelerated pace in the week ended 17 September, according to the Department of Labor.

Initial jobless claims rose by 5,000 week-on-week to 213,000, below market expectations for a print of 218,000 but still a slight increase from the prior week's downwardly revised print.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, initial claims rose by 19,385 to 171,562, while the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, fell by 6,000 from a week earlier to 216,750.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com