Fourteen consecutive decline in US claims

After it pared declines as a mostly risk-on session in Asia, led by a continued rally in Chinese stocks, gave way to a less certain session in European markets, Dollar was little changed after the slightly higher than consensus rise in jobless claims. EURUSD turned slightly lower to 1.1335 from 1.1340, while USDJPY was pretty much unchanged, bouncing between 107.17-107.40.

US initial jobless claims dropped -99k to 1,314k in the week ended July 4, close to forecasts. The prior report for June 27 was revised to show a -69k decline to 1,413k (was 1,427k). This is the 14th week of decline from the record 6,867k from March 27. It brings the 4-week moving average to 1,437.25k from 1,500.25k (was 1,503.75k). Continuing claims declined -698k to 18,062k in the week ended June 27 versus 18,760k (was 19,290k) in the June 20 week. And continuing claims are down from a May 9 high of 24,912k. The insured unemployment rate fell to 12.4% from 12.9% (was 13.2%).

Today‘s improvement was encouraging, though claims declines overall continue to fall short of the rebound we’re seeing in nonfarm payrolls, as well as the increases into the summer for most available supply and demand measures for the economy, though with some restraint in gains recently from pull-backs in re-openings.

Treasury yields are inching slightly lower, even as equity futures rally. There was no real impact from the 14th consecutive decline in initial jobless claims. The 10-year yield is 1.8 bps richer at 0.646%, while the 2-year has dipped to 0.157%. Equity futures are now in the green, albeit barely for the USA30, while the USA100 is 0.6% firmer and the USA500 is up 0.2%.

Caution over the coronavirus, with another record increase in US cases, and concerns over the reopening process are dictating a lot of the trade.