- Stanley Fischer, Federal Reserve
The number of Americans filing for unemployment aid dropped more than expect last week, official figures showed on Thursday. According to the US Department of Labor, initial jobless claims fell 11,000 to 254,000 in the week ended November 4, down from the preceding week's 267,000 filings, while market analysts anticipated an increase of 2,000 to 267,000. This marked the 88th week of initial claims below the 300,000 level, the longest streak since 1973. The four-week moving average of claims increased 1,750 to 259,750 in the reported week. Thursday's data also showed that continuing claims grew 18,000 to 2,041,000 in the week ending October 29, whereas their four-week moving average declined to 2,039,500, the lowest level since July of 2000. After the release, the EUR/USD pair fell 0.09% to 1.0902, whereas it touched its highest level of 1.1298 on Wednesday after the results of the presidential race were announced.
Last week's initial jobless claims together with the NFP report released on Friday have strengthened odds for a December rate hike, despite Donald Trump's surprise victory in the US Presidential elections, which sent shockwaves across the world.
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