Weekly US jobless claims drop after large upwards revision to prior data

The US jobs market was a tad tighter than previously thought, revised weekly jobless claims figures showed.

According to the US Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms the number of initial unemployment claims fell by 18,000 during the week ending on 1 April to reach 228,000.

Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast 200,000 claims.

Significantly, the previous week's tally for first time claims was revised up by a large 48,000 to 246,000.

The latest jobless figures included revised seasonal adjustment factors from the Department of Labor.

Secondary unemployment claims meanwhile, which are those referencing the week ending on 25 March, edged up by 6,000 to 1.823m.

"A rising trend in claims has been a key missing part of the labor market story, but it is now clear layoffs are increasing, while other data - notably the NFIB survey - point to much slower gross hiring," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"We still expect a 250K increase in March payrolls tomorrow, but we look for only 150K in April and we see a decent chance of zero readings around mid-year, consistent with our view that the economy is heading rapidly into a spring/summer recession. These data alone won’t stop the Fed from raising rates again in May, but they are a warning sign that should not be ignored."