Unexpected drop for US unemployment claims

Weekly data on claims in the U.S. have somewhat dispelled the pessimism. The number of initial claims for benefits for the week ending August 1st fell to 1186K, better than the 1435K the week earlier and expectations of 1410K.

The number of continued claims for the week ending July 25th fell by 844K to 16 107K. This revival of the downward trend for claims has slightly reduced the fears around the labour market, only a day before the publication of the official NFP report.

The number of initial claims had grown the last two weeks, with an increase in the number of continued applications the previous week. Yesterday, ADP data showed weak employment growth in July. However, the actual weekly data somewhat smooths out this negative.

The FxPro Analyst Team