2.981 million Americans have filed unemployment claims during the week ended May 9th. Today’s reading came in above analysts’ expectations of 2.5 million. It is the lowest rise in initial claims in 8 weeks, and compared to a record of 6.867 million in the week ended March 28th. The number of unemployed since the coronavirus pandemic started in mid-March reached about 36 million, nearly a quarter of the working age population. The total number far surpassed all of the jobs created since mid-2009. Last week 3.169 million US citizens applied for unemployment benefits, compared to a revised 3.846 million in the prior week and market expectations of 3 million.
Continuing claims 22833K below expectations of 25120K. Prior week revised to 22377K versus 22647K estimate while 4 week moving average of continuing claims 19760K versus 17030.25K last week. One need to remember that continuing claims figures excludes several groups, including workers not eligible for unemployment insurance and workers who have exhausted their benefits.
EURUSD is trading lower after publication of today’s jobless claims report. The most popular currency pair is heading towards 1.0777 support level. Source: xStation5
