Weekly US jobless claims rise roughly as expected

Jobless claims in the US rose as expected during the previous week.

According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, initial unemployment claims increased by 12,000 to reach 248,000 during the week ending on 1 July.

Economists had penciled in a rise of 245,000.

The prior week tally for first time claims was revised down by 3,000 to 236,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average, which aims to smooth out some of the volatility in the data from one week to the next, fell by 3,500 from the week before to 253,250.

Secondary unemployment claims, which are those not being filed for the first time and referencing the week that ended on 24 June, dipped by 13,000 to reach 1.720m.

Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics said that the latest figures suggested that the Juneteenth holiday wasn't the only factor that triggered a sharp decline in claims during the week before.

However, he went on to explain that "But the claims numbers are always difficult to interpret at this time of year, because the seasonals struggle to cope with changes in the timing, duration, and extent of the annual automakers’ retooling shutdowns.

"The underlying picture will be clearer by late August, but in the meantime the weekly numbers need to be viewed with skepticism."

-- More to follow --