US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims rise to 211K vs. 195K expected

• Initial Jobless Claims in the US increased by 21,000 in the week ending March 4.
• US Dollar Index stays in negative territory below 105.50.

There were 211,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending March 4, the weekly data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) showed on Thursday. This print followed the previous week's print of 190,000 and came in worse than the market expectation of 195,000.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average was 197,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised average.

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending February 25 was 1,718,000, an increase of 69,000 from the previous week's revised level," the DOL noted.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index extended its downward correction after this data and was last seen losing 0.35% on the day at 105.28.