US: Initial Jobless Claims increased more than estimated last week

• Initial Jobless Claims rose by 217K from a week earlier.
• Continuing Jobless Claims also rose above estimates.

US citizens that applied for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 217K in the week ending March 2, according to the US Department of Labor (DoL) on Thursday. The prints came in just above initial estimates (215K) and matched the previous weekly gain.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3% and the 4-week moving average stood at 212.25, a decrease of 0.750K from the previous week's revised average.

In addition, Continuing Claims increased by 8K to 1.906M in the week ended February 24.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index (DXY) manages to trim some earlier losses and approaches the 103.30 region ahead of the second congressional testimony by Chair J. Powell.