© Dukascopy Bank
"You've got a gradual improvement in the labor market"
- Brian Jones, a senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale
The number of Americans claiming for unemployment benefits dropped by 50,000 to 352,000 in the week ended January 14, the lowest level in nearly four years, said the Department of Labor on Thursday.
"You've got a gradual improvement in the labor market," said Brian Jones, a senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale in New York. Because of "choppiness with the beginning of the calendar year, you have to look at the four-week moving average" which he said was "encouraging."
"We have to see if there are some seasonality issues involved here, but on the surface this number looks to be very positive and is pretty much consistent with other data we've seen recently that suggest improvement in underlying fundamentals in the U.S.," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange.