US jobless claims fall by 16,000

Americans lined up for state assistance at a decelerated pace in the week ended 18 January, according to the Labor Department.

Initial jobless claims fell by 16,000 week-on-week to 187,000 for the lowest reading since September 2022 and well below market expectations for a print of 207,000.

Continuing claims fell by 26,000 to 1.8m in the earlier week, the least since October 2023, indicating that Americans were having a somewhat easier to get into new positions, while the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, fell by 4,750 to 203,250.

The non-seasonally adjusted initial claim count plunged by 29,543 to 289,228, with significant declines seen in New York following mass layoffs in transportation and warehousing, construction, and information industries.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com