Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. 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 February 6 decreased by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 269,000 from the previous week’s total of 285,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 4,000 to 281,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims have held below the 300,000-level for 48 consecutive weeks, which is usually associated with a firming labor market.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended January 29 fell to 2.239 million from 2.260 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to drop to 2.250 million.
The four-week moving average was 281,250, a decline of 3,500 from the previous week's 284,750. 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 1.1334 from around 1.1344 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4396 from 1.4402 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 112.38 from 112.25 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.69, compared to 95.62 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures shed 244 points, or 1.54%, the S&P 500 futures dipped 29 points, or 1.56%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 65 points, or 1.62%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,234.80 a troy ounce, compared to $1,237.40 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $26.70 a barrel from $26.58 earlier.