Weekly US jobless claims continue moving lower

Jobless claims in the US continued trending lower during the previous week, falling a bit more quickly than anticipated by economists.

According to the US Department of Labor, over the week ending on 14 August the number of people filing unemployment claims for their first time fell by 29,000 to reach 348,000.

Economists had penciled-in a smaller decline to 365,000.

The four-week moving average of initial claims, which smooths out the variations from one week to the next, also retreated, by 19,000 to 377,750.

Secondary jobless claims, which are more closely tied to hiring in the economy than first time claims, dropped by 79,000 to reach 2.82m.