Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week was unchanged, remaining in territory associated with a healthy 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 October 8 held steady at 246,000, matching a 43-year low. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 8,000 to 254,000 last week.
The four-week moving average was 249,250, down 3,500 from the previous week. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended October 1 fell to 2.046 million from 2.062 million in the preceding week.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1032 from around 1.1030 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2194 from 1.2195 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 103.80 from 103.79 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.77, compared to 97.78 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The blue-chip Dow futures shed 112 points, or 0.62%, the S&P 500 futures declined 14 points, or 0.65%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 33 points, or 0.67%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,258.00 a troy ounce, compared to $1,258.65 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $50.08 a barrel from $50.14 earlier.