Weekly US jobless claims rise as expected

Jobless claims in the U.S. rose as expected during the preceding week, reflecting companies' efforts to hold onto workers.

According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, initial unemployment claims rose by over 10,000 during the week ending on 21 October to reach 210,000.

The latest print was in line with economists' forecasts.

In parallel, the four-week moving average, which aims to smooth out the variations in the data, edged up by 1,250 to hit 297,500.

Secondary unemployment claims meanwhile, which are those not being filed for the first time and referencing the week that ended on 14 October, jumped by 63,000 to 1.79m.

Commenting on the latest figures, Kieran Clancy, senior economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said that to see a material drop in payroll growth a meaningful drop in gross hiring would be needed "but the survey data are yet to point convincingly in that direction."