Better than expected US jobs data this week
Some nice initial jobless claims numbers for the US, They've risen from 294,000 (revised up from 292,000) to 309,000 this week. Worse raw data, but below forecasts of a rise to 330,000.
Continuing jobless claims up, from 2.815m (revised down from 2.871m) to 2.787m. Analysts had been expecting them all the way up to 2.9m.
Last week's data was plagued by computer issues. Same trouble this week, with two states still processing claims. The BLS has said that it could take a couple of weeks to work through the backlog.