Mubasher: US job claims declined by 5,000 in the week ended 13 October recording 210,000 claims from 215,000 claims in the previous week, data by the Labour Department showed on Thursday.

The 4-week moving average recording 211,750, an increase of 2,000, compared to the week before.

Meanwhile, the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate for the week ended 6 October stabilised at 1.2% from the previous week’s unrevised rate.

The seasonally adjusted number of the insured unemployed workers during the week ended 6 October decreased by 13,000 to 1.64 million, compared to the prior week’s unrevised figure.

“This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since August 4, 1,973 when it was 1.63 million,” data highlighted.

The unadjusted advance figure for actual initial claims filed under state programmes totalled 190,017 in the week ended 13 October, decreasing by 9,847 claims 4.9% from those filed in the week before.

The seasonal factors had expected a decrease of 4,943, or 2.5%, from the previous week.

On a year-on-year basis, the figure of initial claims fell from 205,592 for the same week.

By 12:54 pm GMT, the ICE US dollar index fell 0.02% $95.64.