US initial jobless claims drop by 10,000, unemployment drops to 1.1pc - Sharecast.com

Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace in the week ended 12 September, according to the Labor Department , extending recent resilience in the labour market. Initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 196,000, better than expectations for an increase to 208,000 and in keeping with a recent run of low claim counts since hitting an almost 60-year low of 189,000 in mid July. Continuing claims fell by 39,000 week-on-week to 1.73m, below expectations of 1.78m, while the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, also came in at 203,250, a decrease of 2,750 from the prior week. The Labor Department also said the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.