In the week ending March 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 282,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 291,000. Analysts were anticipating no change. The 4-week moving average was 297,000, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 304,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8% for the week ending March 14, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 14 was 2,416,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level. The 4-week moving average was 2,422,250, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average.
After the data, USD strengthen against its major rivals. Euro is currently slightly below 1.10 handle, Sterling is around 1.4890 area, while Aussie is few points above 0.7850 level.