(Sharecast News) - Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace in the week ended 3 October, according to the Labor Department, extending the labour market's run of resilience as the Fed maintains its emphasis on tight employment conditions.
Initial jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 197,000, coming in below market expectations for a reading of 200,000 to mark the lowest initial claim count since mid-July's 60-year low of 189,000.
Continuing claims, on the other hand, rose by 17,000 to 1.71m, but were still relatively close to the more-than-three-year low seen a week earlier, while the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, increased by 17,000 to 1.716m.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate came to 1.1% for the week ended 26 September, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com