The U.S. Department of Labor reported that Weekly Initial Jobless Claims had increased by 17,000 claims in the week ending on October 18th.
Weekly jobless claims rose to 283K, compared to an expected decline to 269K and with the previous number revised slight higher from 264K to 266K. The four week average for jobless claims came to 281K, which is the lowest average seen since May of 2000. People receiving benefits for the second month in a row also hit a 14 year low of 2.35 million.
The U.S. Dollar fell against the Japanese Yen but was mostly higher against other majors in early Asian trading today. Safe haven Japanese Yen buying was cited in the wake of the announcement of a New York Ebola virus case, while other factors contributing to the Greenback’s performance were better than expected earnings reports from U.S. bellwether companies, such as General Motors and Caterpillar, and continued expectations of U.S. interest rate hikes sometime next year.
Currency traders will be watching the U.S. Census Bureau’s release of New Home Sales on Friday, which are expected to drop to 473K from a previous reading of 504K.
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