Spike in US jobless claims could eliminate chances of December taper
After some great US unemployment data last Friday, today's spike in initial jobless claims (for the week to 6 December) may mean that any chance of the Federal Reserve beginning tapering in December has vanished.
Those initial jobless claims have jumped from 300,000 (revised up from 298,000) to 368,000. Analysts had anticipated an increase to just 320,000.
Paul Dales, senior US economist at Capital Economics, says that the jump may be "due to problems in seasonally adjusting the data around the Thanksgiving holiday."
Jump in US Initial Jobless Claims offsets all declines of last 9 weeks. Puts it right in middle of 2yr avg 359K and 3yr avg 376K
— Mike van Dulken (@Accendo_Mike) December 12, 2013