US jobless claims slide to 346K – in line with expectations

Weekly jobless claims dropped to 346K in the week of June 22 2013. They were expected to slide from 355K last week (revised from 355K) to 347K this time. Continuing claims were predicted to remain almost unchanged at around 2.95 million. The drop under 3 million was an important advance in the economic situation. They suffered a small rise to 2.965 million now.

EUR/USD was steady around 1.3030 and USD/JPY held on to high ground at 98.20.

Personal spending rose by 0.3%, exactly as expected, but the figure for the previous month was revised to the downside: from -0.2% to -0.3%. Core PCE Price Index rose by 0.1% as expected and personal income surprised by rising 0.5%, more than 0.2% expected and this figure also enjoyed an upwards revision of the previous figure: from flat to +0.1%.

All in all, this bulk of data doesn’t contain big surprises: most figures are in line with predictions. The general picture of a slow and steady / frustrating growth continues.

Currencies aren’t moving too much. Next in the US: pending home sales at 14:00 GMT.