US initial jobless claims came in at 197K, below the 201K expected by economists, pointing to continued resilience in the US labor market. The previous week's reading was revised higher to 198K from 196K, nevertheless, claims remain at historically low levels, indicating that layoffs remain contained. The picture was even stronger in continuing claims, which fell to 1.719 million, well below the 1.745 million expected. The previous reading was revised to 1.717 million from 1.730 million. Taken together, the data suggest that the US labor market remains healthy and the Fed can continue to focus solely on inflation. For background, initial claims provide a high-frequency indication of how many people are newly applying for unemployment benefits.
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