US initial jobless claims unexpectedly rise last week

Americans made first-time unemployment benefit claims at a higher than expected clip last week, driven by an increased number of Covid-19 cases that disrupted business activity across the nation.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose from 231,000 to a seasonally adjusted rate of 286,000 in the week ended 15 January, according to the Labor Department, ahead of forecasts for a print of 220,000 as the United States reports an average of 732,245 new coronavirus infections per day, according to a Reuters analysis of official data, in a winter surge driven by the Omicron variant.

However, claims were still sharply lower than record highs of 6.14m in early April 2020.

The four-week moving average was also 231,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week's revised average, while continuing claims increased to 1.63m, up from 1.55m in the previous week.