US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims fall to 238K vs. 245K expected

There were 238,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the US during the week ending January 29, data published by the US Department of Labor (DoL) revealed on Thursday. This reading followed last week's print of 261,000 (revised up from 260,000) and was below with consensus market expectations for 245,000. Continued Claims fell slightly less than expected to 1.628M in the week ending on January 22 from 1.672M the week prior (revised lower from 1.675M) and was slightly above the 1.62M expected. The insured unemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.2%.