Weekly US jobless claims hold near multi-decade lows

One of the most closely-followed gauges of the health of the US labour market remained near multi-decade lows last week.

Initial jobless claims for the week ending 20 May rose by 1,000 to 234,000, according to the Department of Commerce.

Thursday's release also showed the previous week's tally had been revised higher by 1,000 to 232,000.

In parallel, the key four-week moving average, which aims to smoothe the swings in the data from one week to the next, fell sharply, falling by 5,750 to 235,250 - its lowest level since 14 April 1973.

Secondary unemployment claims, those which are not filed for the first time and referencing the week to 13 May, increased by 24,000 to 1.923m.

"The trend appears to be hitting new cycle lows. [...] This is the fourth straight week below 240K, so it's starting to look more like a shift in trend rather than just noise, but we still need more data to be sure," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.