US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims decline to 191K vs. 201K expected

Initial Jobless Claims in the US decreased by 1,000 in the week ending March 18.
US Dollar Index stays in negative territory below 102.50.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

There were 191,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending March 18, the weekly data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) showed on Thursday. This print followed the previous week's print of 192,000 and came in better than the market expectation of 201,000.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average was 196,250, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's unrevised average.

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 11 was 1,694,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level," the DOL noted.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index showed no immediate reaction to this report and was last seen losing 0.2% on the day at 102.30.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

GBP/USD: Daily gains remain capped by 1.3650

GBP/USD leaves behind Monday’s pessimism and advances marginally on Tuesday. Cable’s humble gains, however, appear to have met quite a decent resistance in the 1.3650 zone for now, in a context of a slight selling pressure hovering around the Greenback.

EUR/USD struggles to regain pace; gyrates around 1.1670

EUR/USD clinches humble gains around 1.1670 following Tuesday’s close on Wall Street. Indeed, marginal losses in the US Dollar encourages spot to set aside two dauly pullbacks in a row and maintain the 1.1700 barrier on the cross-hairs for now. Moving forward, US inflation tracked by the PCE and another revision of Q2 GDP data should keep investors entertained on Wednesday.

Gold steadies near $4,650, eyes multi-month high ahead of US PCE

Gold stabilizes around $4,650 after the previous day's two-way swings as traders await the US PCE data, due later this Wednesday, for cues about the Fed's policy path. The outlook will drive the US Dollar and the non-yielding bullion. Meanwhile, renewed hopes for a US-Iran peace deal, weak oil prices, sliding US bond yields and diminishing odds of an immediate tightening by the Fed undermine the USD. This keeps the precious metal close to its highest level since May 14, set on Tuesday.

Ethereum rally calms after reclaiming $2,300 on-chain cost basis

After a +30% gain last week, Ethereum (ETH) broke above its realized price, or average on-chain cost basis, at $2,306. That move also pushed it above the realized price of different wallet cohorts. Historically, profit-taking often increases when prices break above investors' average on-chain cost basis for the first time after an extended bearish period.

Canada hits US goods with tariffs; The rate market sees a problem

On September 8, Canada begins charging its own importers 15%, 25% and 50% on roughly 700 lines of American goods. The measure is billed as dollar for dollar, and on the arithmetic of covered trade it is. What it is not is a tax on the United States.