• Initial Jobless Claims rose by 201K from a week earlier.
• Continuing Jobless Claims also surprised to the downside.

US citizens that applied for unemployment insurance benefits increased by 201K in the week ending February 17 according to the US Department of Labor (DoL) on Thursday. Once again, the prints came in on the strong side and followed a 213K 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 215.25, a decrease of 3.500K from the previous week's revised average.