US weekly Initial Jobless Claims rise to 217K vs. 210K expected

• Initial Jobless Claims in the US increased by 5,000 in the week ending October 27 to the highest level in seven weeks.
• Continuing Claims increased by 35,000 in the week ending October 21. 
• US Dollar Index dropped to fresh daily lows after Jobless Claims and Q3 Unit Labor Costs.  

There were 217,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending October 27, the weekly data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) showed on Thursday. It is the highest level in seven weeks. This reading follows last week’s print of 212,000 (revised from 210,000) and came in worse than the market expectation of 210,000. The 4-week moving average was 210,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average. 

Continuing claims rose by 35,000 in the week ending October 21 to 1.81 million, above market expectations of 1.8 million. It is the highest reading since May.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index dropped further and hit a fresh daily low under 106.00 following Jobless Claims and also the Q3 Unit Labor Costs report.