US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims fell to 214K vs. 220K expected

• Weekly Initial Jobless Claims fell by 9,000 in US.
• US Dollar Index continues to cling to modest daily gains below 97.50.

The number of Americans filing claims for jobless insurance fell to 214,000 in the week ending January 3rd from 223,000, the weekly data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Thursday and this reading came in better than the market expectation of 220,000. 

Further details of the publication revealed that the four-week average edged lower to 224,000 from 233,500 and the Continuing Jobless Claims rose to 1.8 million. 

The US Dollar Index stayed relatively calm after this data and was last up 0.1% on the day at 97.40.