The US dollar is rising on Thursday after the US government reported that initial jobless claims surged more than the market had anticipated. The greenback is witnessing an influx of traders who seeking shelter from the slide in the broader financial market. With the leading benchmark indexes in the red and the metal commodities sliding, investors are searching for protection in the buck.
According to the Department of Labor, the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits came in at 898,000 in the week ending October 10. This is the highest reading in seven weeks, a potential indicator that a resurgence in the coronavirus pandemic could be impacting the labor market again.
Continuing jobless claims topped ten million, while the four-week moving average, which eliminates week to week volatility, exceeded 866,000.
It should also be noted that 372,891 people also filed for new jobless claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PAU) Act, a federal measure that allows self-employed workers to be eligible for benefits. This would increase the total number of actual or unadjusted new claims to 1.26 million, slightly lower than the previous week.
Moreover, for the third consecutive week, the number of new claims in California was stuck at 226,179. The state has stopped updating its figures to comb through its backlog and eliminate duplicate claims and fraud.
In other data, import prices rose 0.3% in September, down from the 1% jump in the previous month. Export prices edged up 0.6% last month, up from 0.5% in August.
The New York Empire State Manufacturing Index fell from 17 in September to 10.5 in October. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bankâs manufacturing index surged from 15 in September to 32.3 this month.
On Friday, retail sales, industrial output, and manufacturing production data for September will be released.
Financial markets have slumped on Thursday, sending investors into safe-haven assets, primarily the greenback. The US Dollar Index, which gauges the buck against a basket of currencies, advanced 0.47% to 93.82, from an opening of 93.43. The index has been mixed as of late, but it is up 0.23% over the last week.
The USD/CAD currency pair advanced 0.58% to 1.3228, from an opening of 1.3153, at 17:10 GMT on Thursday. The EUR/USD tumbled 0.4% to 1.1701, from an opening of 1.1747.
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