US Initial Jobless Claims dropped to 215K last week

According to a report from the US Department of Labour (DOL) released on Thursday, the number of US citizens submitting new applications for unemployment insurance shrank to 215K for the week ending July 4. The latest print came in below initial estimates (218K) and was slightly lower than the previous week’s 217K (revised from 215K).

Additionally, the 4-week moving average went down by 3.75K, bringing it to 218.75K from the revised average of the previous week (222.25K).

The report also indicated that Continuing Jobless Claims increased by 8K to 1.814M for the week ending June 27.

Market reaction

The Greenback builds on Wednesday’s pullback, briefly dropping to new weekly troughs near 100.80 when gauged by the US Dollar Index (DXY). The move lower in the US Dollar (USD) comes in tandem with the retracement in crude oil prices, while investors remain focused on developments from the Middle East.