• Initial Jobless Claims rose by 218K from a week earlier.
• Continuing Jobless Claims surprised to the upside.

US citizens that applied for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 218K in the week ending February 3 according to the US Department of Labor (DoL) on Thursday. Once again, the prints surpassed consensus and follow a 227K gain in the previous week.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% (from 1.3%) and the 4-week moving average stood at 212.25, a decrease of 3.750K from the previous week's revised average