Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week dropped, despite expectations for a slight increase, as they continued to remain in territory consistent with a firming 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 May 28 decreased by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000 from the previous week’s total of 268,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 2,000 to 270,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims have held below the 300,000-level for 65 consecutive weeks, which is usually associated with a firming labor market.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended May 21 rose to 2.172 million from 2.160 million in the preceding week. The previous week’s figure was revised down from 2.163 million.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to fall to 2.150 million.
The four-week moving average was 276,750, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 278,500. 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, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1190 from around 1.1181 ahead of the publication; GBP/USD was at 1.4453 from 1.4452 earlier; while USD/JPY was at 108.96 from 109.00 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.31, compared to 95.36 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures fell 27 points, or 0.15%, the S&P 500 futures lost 4 points, or 0.17%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 6 points, or 0.12%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,217.00 a troy ounce, compared to $1,216.15 ahead of the data, while U.S.crude oil traded at $48.72 a barrel from $48.97 earlier.