US jobless claims unexpectedly decline

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

US initial jobless claims were down 2,000 to 236,000 from the previous week's unrevised level. Economists had been expecting claims to tick up to 238,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average came in at 243,500, up 500 from the previous week's unrevised average.

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 had expected a bigger increase after last week's unexpected drop to 257K, but it's still too soon to conclude that the trend has fallen below 240K; we need to see more data. But a slide in claims to new lows would be consistent with the firming trend in some of the survey measures of hiring since last fall, and would add more weight to our view that the softness in the Q1 GDP numbers is deeply misleading.

"We agree with the FOMC's assessment that the dip to a reported 0.7% annualised rate is 'likely to be transitory. The trend in payroll growth should be 200K-plus over the next few months, enough to push the unemployment rate even further below the Fed's Nairu estimate."