US weekly unemployment claims undershoot forecasts

Employment Stateside was unexpectedly buoyant last week, one of the most widely-followed gauges for the US labour market revealed.

Initial unemployment claims in the US were unchanged at 254,000 over the week ending on 9 Jul, according to the US Department of Labor.

Economists had penciled in an increase of 9,000 to 265,000.

Government statisticians said no special factors impacted the latest batch of figures, despite the 4 July national holiday.

Thursday’s data marked 71 consecutive weeks of initial claims below the 300,000-person level, the longest such stretch since 1973.

The four-week moving average declined by 5,750 to reach 259,000.

Secondary unemployment claims, those which are not filed for the first time and referencing the week ending on 2 July, increased by 32,000 to hit 2.149m.

"Looks great but big seasonal distortions; expect 280K next week.

"But low claims are not alone enough to ensure big payroll gains every month, because they tell us nothing about short-term shifts in hiring. For the next couple of months, we're more interested in the ISM non-manufacturing employment index, NFIB hiring intentions and the Help Wanted Online, all of which remain well below their late 2015 peaks," said Ian Sheperdson, chief US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.