Weekly US jobless claims dip

According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms the number of initial unemployment claims slipped by 3,000 to 192,000 over the week ending on 18 February (consensus: 197,000).

The four-week moving average meanwhile, which aims to smooth out the fluctuations in the data from one week to the next, rose by 1,500 to 191,250.

Secondary claims, which are those not being filed for the first time and referencing the week ending on 11 February, fell by 37,000 to 1.654m.

Initial claims data for the week ending on 11 February were revised up by 1,000 to 194,000, while secondary claims for the week ending on 4 February were revised down by 5,000.

-- More to follow --