In the United States, initial unemployment claims rise to 211,000 compared to an estimate of 215,000

• Previous week 221K revised 222K
• initial unemployment registrations 211,000 against 215,000 estimates
• 4-week moving average 214.25K vs. 214.50K last week
• continuing claims 1,817M versus 1,800M estimate
• continued claims last week 1,791M revised to 1,789M
• 4-week moving average of outstanding claims 1,803M compared to 1,799M last week
• The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 30 were in California (+2,147), Pennsylvania (+1,913), Iowa (+1,383), New Jersey (+1,230) and in Illinois (+1,195).
• The largest declines were in Texas (-3,248), Missouri (-2,369), Georgia (-935), Arkansas (-459) and North Carolina (-400).

The job market remains stable and shows no signs of weakness.

The American markets reacted more to the PPI data which arrived a little later than expected, i.e. 0.2% over one month and 2.1% over one year (compared to 2.2% estimated). The core was also at 0.2% with an annual return of 2.4% versus an estimate of 2.3%.

The NASDAQ moved into positive territory with a gain of 33 points. The S&P index is still down -4.3 points.

The 2-year yield is down 2.3 basis points at 4.948%. The 10-year yield is down -1.8 basis points at 4.543%.

The US dollar is also slightly lower. EURUSD is trading at 1.07414, having hit a new low at 1.07145 before publication.