In the week ending February 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 320,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 313,000. Analysts were anticipating decrease to 293,000. The 4-week moving average was 304,750, an increase of 10,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 294,500.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent for the week ending February 21, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 21 was 2,421,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 3,000 from 2,401,000 to 2,404,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,403,500, an increase of 3,750 from the previous week's revised average.
After the data USD eased down few points. Euro is currently being traded around 1.11 area, mostly influnced by ECB, Sterling is few points above 1.5240 level, while Aussie is around 0.78 handle.