US initial jobless claims unexpectedly drop

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, according to the Labor Department.

US initial jobless claims fell by 13,000 to 253,000 from a downwardly-revised 266,000 the week before, beating expectations for a rise to 270,000.

This marked 58 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000 - the longest streak since 1973.

The four-week moving average of new claims was 265,000, down 1,500 from the previous week’s downwardly-revised 266,500.

The four-week average is considered more reliable as it smooths out sharp fluctuations in the more volatile weekly figures, giving a more accurate picture of the health of the labour market.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said: “We'd love to be able to argue convincingly that these data represent hard evidence of a further improvement in labour market conditions, but it's more likely that Easter-related seasonal adjustment problems explain the drop.

“The seasonals struggle to cope with the shifting date of the holiday from year to year, and the numbers won't be reliable again until early May. The trend in claims undoubtedly is very low, but it's probably still in the low 270s, rather than the low 250s.”