US weekly Initial Jobless Claims decline to 214,000 vs. 223,000 expected

• Initial Jobless Claims in the US fell by 10,000 in the week ending December 20.
• The US Dollar Index holds steady near 98.00 in the American session.

There were 214,000 Initial Jobless Claims in the week ending December 20, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the US Department of Labor (DOL) reported on Wednesday. This reading came in better than the market expectation of 223,000.

In this period, the 4-week moving average declined by 750 to 216,750.

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 13 was 1,923,000, an increase of 38,000 from the previous week's revised level," the DOL noted in its press release.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index showed no immediate reaction to this report and was last seen posting small daily gains at 97.92.