Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell to the lowest level since late October, 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 March 5 decreased by 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 259,000 from the previous week’s total of 277,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 2,000 to 275,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims have held below the 300,000-level for 52 consecutive weeks, which is usually associated with a firming labor market.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended February 27 declined to 2.225 million from 2.257 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to dip to 2.255 million.
The four-week moving average was 267,500, a decline of 2,500 from the previous week's 270,000. 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 1.0857 from around 1.0848 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4143 from 1.4139 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 114.25 from 114.28 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 98.19, compared to 98.18 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures rose 125 points, or 0.73%, the S&P 500 futures tacked on 17 points, or 0.84%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 41 points, or 0.95%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,252.20 a troy ounce, compared to $1,251.70 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $38.34 a barrel from $38.29 earlier.