US initial jobless claims fall to four-month low
First-time unemployment claims fell to 213,000 in the week ended 10 September, according to the Labor Department, down from the previous week's revised print of 218,000 and well below market expectations for a reading of 226,000.
The drop brought about the lowest amount of weekly jobless claims since the last week of May, pointing to a tight labor market and giving the Fed the green light to make further aggressive interest rate hikes.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, came in at 224,000 - a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised average.
Continuing claims, on the other hand, increased from 1.401m to 1.403m.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com