US jobless claims rise by 4,000

Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a slightly accelerated pace in the week ended 17 August, according to the Labor Department.

Initial unemployment claims rose by 4,000 week-on-week to 232,000, a three-week high and slightly ahead of market expectations for a reading of 230,000, consolidating the trend of a softening labour market pointed to by last month's jobs report and a sizeable downward revision to nonfarm payrolls for the twelve months ended 31March.

Continuing claims rose by 4,000 to 1.86m, while the four-week moving average for initial claims, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, fell by 750 to 236,000.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com