US weekly Initial Jobless Claims rise to 247K vs. 235K expected

• Initial Jobless Claims in the US rose by 8,000 in the week ending May 31.
• The US Dollar Index declines toward 98.50 after the data.

There were 247,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending May 31, according to data published Thursday by the United States (US) Department of Labor (DOL). This figure followed the previous week's print of 239,000 (revised from 240,000) and came in worse than the market expectation of 235,000.

Further details of the publication revealed that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2%.

"The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 24 was 1,904,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level," the DOL noted in its press release.

Market reaction

The US Dollar stays under bearish pressure after this data. At the time of press, the USD Index was down 0.2% on the day at 98.62.