Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell more than expected, remaining in territory usually associated 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 21 decreased by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 268,000 from the previous week’s total of 278,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 3,000 to 275,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended May 14 rose to 2.163 million from 2.153 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to inch down to 2.146 million.
The four-week moving average was 278,500, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's 275,750. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1178 from around 1.1169 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4706 from 1.4700 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 110.02 from 110.12 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.22, compared to 95.28 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures tacked on 38 points, or 0.21%, the S&P 500 futures inched up 4 points, or 0.16%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 9 points, or 0.19%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,227.10 a troy ounce, compared to $1,225.50 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $50.11 a barrel from $50.09 earlier.