Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose unexpectedly, underlining concerns over the strength of the labor market, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending February 8 rose by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 339,000 from the previous week’s total of 331,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 1,000 to 330,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended February 1 fell to 2.953 million from 2.971 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to fall to 2.960 million.
The four-week moving average was 336,750, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 333,250. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
Following the release of the data, the U.S. dollar added to losses against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.68% to trade at 1.3686, compared to 1.3674 ahead of the data.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a loss of 0.6%, S&P 500 futures indicated a decline of 0.65%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures signaled a drop of 0.65%.