(Kitco News) The initial weekly jobless claims declined by 5,000 to 256,000 in the week to Saturday, slightly disappointing market expectations.
Economists’ consensus calls projected for initial claims to come in at 253,000 following the revised level of 261,000 reported in the previous week.
Continuing jobless claims, which represent the number of people already receiving benefits, were at 1,359,000 during the week ending July 16, a decrease of 25,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 1,384,000.
The four-week moving average rose to 1,362,000, an increase of 8,750. And the previous week’s four-week moving average was unrevised at 1,353,250.
Traders watch the jobless claims data very closely to gauge its impact on the Federal Reserve’s employment side of the monetary policy mandate.
Gold jumped following the data release, but prices reacted to the second quarter GDP data published simultaneously and showed that the U.S. economy shrank 0.9% in the second quarter, marking a second straight quarterly decline. August Comex gold futures were last trading at $1,740.20, down 1.23% on the day.
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](/images/live/gold.gif?0.2924175530478188)
