• Initial Jobless Claims rose by 214K in the third week of the year.
• Continuing Jobless Claims also surpassed estimates.

US citizens that applied for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 214K in the week ending January 20 according to the US Department of Labor (DoL) on Thursday. The reading came in above market consensus and follows a 189K gain in the previous week.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% and the 4-week moving average stood at 202.25K, a decrease of 1.5K from the previous week's revised average.