US weekly Initial Jobless Claims decline to 211K vs. 222K expected

• Initial Jobless Claims in the US declined by 9,000 in the week ending December 28.
• US Dollar Index clings to strong gains above 108.50 after the data.

There were 211,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending December 28, the weekly data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) showed on Thursday. This print followed the previous week's print of 220,000 and came in better than the market expectation of 222,000.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average stood at 223,250, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average.

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 21 was 1,844,000, a decrease of 52,000 from the previous week's revised level," the DOL noted in its press release.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index continues to edge higher and was last seen trading at its highest level since November 2022 at 108.85, rising 0.35% on the day.