US: Claims drop lower

Initial claims fell a steeper-than-expected 20 000 to 321 000 from an upwardly revised 341 000. There was no message about special factors in the LBS press release. Consensus expected a smaller decline to 330 000. Continuing claims rose 65 000 to 2 594 000 and the insured unemployment rate ticked up to 2% from 1.9%. The data don??™t allow to draw firm conclusions about the labour market conditions.

EMU: French business confidence surges

After the German IFO and the Belgian business confidence showed an improvement in April, it was the French business community that expressed its confidence in the future. The overall indicator rose to 111 from 109 in March, a new cyclical high, the production outlook index jumped to 9 from ??“2, while the own company production outlook steadied at 14.