American weekly jobless claims head south

The previous week, the total number of US citizens who filed for unemployment benefits suddenly shrank. It actually drops a hint at firm labor market conditions notwithstanding signs that job surge was speeding down.

Other Thursday’s data revealed an improvement in worker productivity for the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, the trend was still sluggish. In the last quarter, labor costs kept soaring at a moderate tempo, suggesting benign inflation pressures, which back the Fed’s quite patient approach as for further interest rate lifts in 2019.

As for initial claims for state unemployment benefits, they went down by 3,000 to a seasonally updated 223,000 by March 2, as the Labor Department uncovered. Market experts had hoped claims would be intact showing 225,000 in the latest week.

A common gauge of labor market trends, the four-week moving average of initial claims headed south by 3,000 ending up with 226,250 the previous week, thus demonstrating the lowest value in February.

The major US financial institution told that contacts posted labor shortages were restraining employment surge in some areas.

The tempo of job surge remains more than enough to keep suppressing the unemployment rate. In February, non-farm payrolls tacked on by 180,000 jobs having ascended by 304,000 in January.

By the way, the unemployment rate is expected to dive 0.10% in February.

As for the evergreen buck, it managed to extend its profit following the publication of the data on Thursday while American stocks stood still. Additionally, US Treasuries headed north.

Furthermore, the Labor Department informed that non-farm productivity managed to rally at a 1.9% annualized rate for the last quarter.

However, data for the third quarter was updated downwards to demonstrate productivity soaring at a tempo of 1.8% versus the previously posted 2.2% rate.