US jobless claims little changed during latest week

Jobless insurance claims numbers in the U.S. were little changed during the past week, possibly reflecting companies' continued efforts to retain workers.

According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms the number of initial unemployment claims edged up by 2,000 to 204,000 over the week ending on 23 September.

Economists had penciled in a rise to 215,000.

The four-week moving average on the other hand dropped by a further 6,250 to reach 211,000.

Secondary unemployment claims, which are those not being filed for the first time and referencing the week ending on 16 September, rose by a paltry 12,000 to approximately 1.67m.

Commenting on the latest claims figures, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "Jobless claims remain very low, well below their pre-summer trend.

"It's not entirely clear why claims have dropped, but it follows a sudden fall in WARN notices in July. The number of WARN notices then rebounded in August, so we think it likely that claims will head back up too, but we see no sign of an imminent sustained increase."