American jobless claims drop
New unemployment benefit claims in the US dropped to 391,000 in the week ending 19 February, while continuing jobless claims fell below 3.8m. “The continued improvement in this week’s report signals that the weather-related spikes in January did not alter the downward trend in claims, and we take this as evidence that the labour market recovery has not lost momentum,” said Nicholas Tenev of Barclays Capital.