Continuing Jobless Claims comes in at 1.801M against 1.772M consensus

The latest US Continuing Jobless Claims report showed 1.801 million individuals receiving unemployment benefits, released today, August 6, 2026, at 12:30 UTC. This figure was higher than the consensus expectation of 1.772 million and also above the prior week’s revised total of 1.782 million. The actual print represented a 1.6% surprise compared to the market consensus.

Following the release, market reactions across major currency pairs showed limited movement. AUDUSD moved -1.4 pips 15 minutes after the release, while EURUSD was down -1.0 pips. GBPUSD saw a +1.2 pip move, and NZDUSD moved -2.3 pips. USDCAD was largely unchanged, moving -0.2 pips. USDCHF moved +0.3 pips, and USDJPY gained +4.8 pips. Gold, XAUUSD, moved +56 pips 15 minutes after the data. For most pairs, these initial moves were small when compared to their historical median 1-hour moves, such as AUDUSD’s median 1-hour move of 8 pips or EURUSD’s 10 pips. XAUUSD’s +56 pip move was closer to its top-quarter release move of 65+ pips.