Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell less than expected, but remained 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 14 decreased by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 from the previous week’s total of 294,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 19,000 to 275,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended May 7 declined to 2.152 million from 2.165 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to inch down to 2.163 million.
The four-week moving average was 275,750, an increase of 7,500 from the previous week's 268,250. 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 1.1196 from around 1.1190 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4613 from 1.4608 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 109.97 from 110.11 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.34, compared to 95.41 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures shed 23 points, or 0.13%, the S&P 500 futures dipped 10 points, or 0.46%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 19 points, or 0.41%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,249.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,248.05 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $47.11 a barrel from $47.07 earlier.