US jobless claims fall for second week in a row

The US Department of Labor said that jobless claims in the US fell by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 229,000 for the week ending June 18. Analysts had expected US jobless claims to record 227 thousand last week. Unadjusted jobless claims fell by 3,255 to 202,844 last week as Illinois and Florida reported significant declines in claims helping to offset a marked increase in Michigan. The data showed that continuous jobless claims in the United States rose by 5 thousand to 1.315 million during the week ending June 11, and the US economy added 390 thousand jobs in May.