Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week increased more than expected last week, bouncing back from its lowest level since 1973 but remaining in territory consistent with a firming labor market, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 19 increased by 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 251,000 from the previous week’s total of 233,000 (initially 235,000).
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 15,000 to 250,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims below the 300,000-level are usually associated with a firming labor market.
This was its 90th consecutive week below that threshold, its longest stretch since 1970.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended November 5 rose to 2.043 million from a revised 1.983 million (initially 1.977 million) in the preceding week.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to increase to 2.030 million.
The four-week moving average was 251,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's 253,000 (which was revised from the original 253,500).
The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
Immediately after the report, which was released simultaneously with a 4.8% jump in October durable goods orders, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0575 from around 1.0599 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2384 from 1.2408 earlier, while USD/JPY traded at 111.81 compared to 111.54 before the release.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 101.52, compared to 101.36 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat open. The Dow futures inched down 3 points, or 0.02%, the S&P 500 futures slipped 3 points, or 0.14%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 9 points, or 0.19%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,195.65 a troy ounce, compared to $1,201.75 ahead of the data, while U.S. crude oil traded at $47.53 a barrel from $47.64 earlier.