US: Initial Jobless Claims increased to 223K last week

•  Initial Jobless Claims rose below consensus to 223K.
• Continuing Jobless Claims climbed to 1.892M.

US citizens filing new applications for unemployment insurance increased to 223K for the week ending March 15, as reported by the US Department of Labor (DOL) on Thursday. This print missed initial estimates and was a tad higher than the previous week's revised tally of 221K (revised from 220K).

The report also highlighted a seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate of 1.2%, while the four-week moving average rose by 750 to 227K from the prior week’s revised average.

Moreover, Continuing Jobless Claims went up by 33K to reach 1.892M for the week ending March 8.

Market reaction

The Greenback manages to extend Wednesday’s bounce and prompts the US Dollar Index (DXY) to approach the key 104.00 barrier, contrasting with further downward bias in US yields across the curve.