(Kitco News) The initial weekly jobless decreased by 19,000 to 204,000 in the week to Saturday, surprising the markets with the slight drop.
Economists’ consensus calls projected initial claims to come in at 225,000, following the previous week’s revised level of 223,000.
The four-week moving average for new claims – often viewed as a more reliable measure of the labor market since it flattens week-to-week volatility – decreased to 213,750. The previous week’s four-week moving average was revised down to 220,500, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday.
Continuing jobless claims, which represent the number of people already receiving benefits, were at 1,694,000 during the week ending December 24, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 1,718,000.
The four-week moving average rose to 1,687,500, an increase of 6,000. And the previous week’s four-week moving average was revised up to 1,681,500.
Traders watch the jobless claims data very closely to gauge its impact on the Federal Reserve’s employment side of the monetary policy mandate.
Following the data release, gold was largely unchanged after it fell to fresh daily lows in response to the ADP data published earlier this morning. February Comex gold was last seen at $1,847.68, down 0.60% on the day.
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](/images/live/gold.gif?0.2924175530478188)
