In the week ending December 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 280,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 289,000. Analysts were anticipating increase to 291,000.The 4-week moving average was 290,250, a decrease of 8,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 298,750.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8% for the week ending December 13, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 13 was 2,403,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised level.
After the data USD added few points. Euro is few points above 1.22 handle, Sterling is around 1.5540 area, while Aussie is slightly below 0.8120 level.
