US: Initial Jobless Claims went up more than anticipated last week

Initial Jobless Claims rose by 221K from a week earlier.
Continuing Jobless Claims were at nearly 1.8M.

Pablo Piovano FXStreet

US citizens that applied for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 221K in the week ending March 30 according to the US Department of Labor (DoL) on Thursday. The prints came in just above initial estimates (214K) and surpassed previous weekly gain (212K).

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average stood at 214.25K, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average.

In addition, Continuing Claims decreased by 19K to 1.791M in the week ended March 23.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index (DXY) remains on the defensive and gradually approaches the key support at 104.00 region.

(This story was corrected on April 4 at 14:30 GMT to say, in the first paragraph, that Initial Jobless Claims didn't match the previous week's reading, but exceeded it. It was also corrected to say, in the second paragraph, that the 4-week moving average is 214.25K, not 212.25. It was also corrected to say, in the third paragraph, that Continuing Claims fell by 19K, not increased by 8K.)

Author

Pablo Piovano

FXStreet

Born and bred in Argentina, Pablo has been carrying on with his passion for FX markets and trading since his first college years.

EUR/USD weakens to four-week lows near 1.1750

EUR/USD’s selling pressure is gathering pace now, approaching the area of multi-week troughs in the mid-1.1700s on Thursday. The pair’s intense decline comes on the back of another day of solid gains in the US Dollar, particulalry exacerbated following firm prints from the weekly US labour market.

GBP/USD drops further, hovers around 1.3460

In line with the rest of its risk-linked peers, GBP/USD faces increasing selling pressure and recedes toward the 1.3460 region, or four-week lows, on Thursday. Cable’s persistent pullback comes in response to the continuation of the recovery in the Greenback amid a solid US data and a divided FOMC when it comes to the Fed’s rate path.

Gold clings to daily gains near $5,000

Gold struggles for direction and clings to its daily gains around the key $5,000 mark per troy ounce on Thursday. The precious metal sticks to the bid bias amid reignited geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and despite marked gains in the US Dollar and rising US Treasury yields across the curve.

Ripple slips toward $1.40 despite SG-FORGE tapping protocol for EUR CoinVertible

XRP extends its decline, nearing $1.40 support, as risk appetite fades in the broader market. SG-FORGE’s EUR CoinVertible launches on the XRP Ledger, leveraging the blockchain’s scalability, speed, security, and decentralization.

Hawkish Fed minutes and a market finding its footing

It was green across the board for US Stock market indexes at the close on Wednesday, with most S&P 500 names ending higher, adding 38 points (0.6%) to 6,881 overall. At the GICS sector level, energy led gains, followed by technology and consumer discretionary, while utilities and real estate posted the largest losses.

Injective token surges over 13% following the approval of the mainnet upgrade proposal

Injective price rallies over 13% on Thursday after the network confirmed the approval of its IIP-619 proposal. The green light for the mainnet upgrade has boosted traders’ sentiment, as the upgrade aims to scale Injective’s real-time Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and enhance its capabilities to support next-generation payments.