US Unemployment claims are rising less than expected

The US Department of Labor said today that Unemployment claims in the United States increased by 6,000 to 211,000 seasonally adjusted requests for the week ending January 18 and analysts' expectations for US Unemployment claims to rise to 215,000 last week.

The weekly average of US Unemployment claims fell in the four-week period, which is a better measure of labor market trends by 3.250 applications to 213.250 applications last week, the lowest level since September.

Continuing Unemployment claims in the United States fell by 37,000 to 1.73 million in the week ending January 11, while the average weekly Unemployment claims in the four weeks rose by 2,000 to 1.76 million.