Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week unexpectedly rose to its highest level in more than a year, although it continued to remain in territory consistent 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 6 increased by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 294,000 from the previous week’s total of 274,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to drop by 4,000 to 270,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims have held below the 300,000-level for 61 consecutive weeks, which is usually associated with a firming labor market.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended April 29 also unexpectedly rose to 2.161 million from 2.124 million in the preceding week. The previous week’s figure was revised up from 2.121 million.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to slip to 2.120 million.
The four-week moving average was 268,250, an increase of 10,250 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 258,000.
The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
Immediately after the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1391 from around 1.1388 ahead of the publication; GBP/USD was at 1.4450 from 1.4448 earlier; while USD/JPY was at 109.23 from 109.33 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.05, compared to 94.08 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures rose 80 points, or 0.45%, the S&P 500 futures gained 12 points, or 0.61%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 22 points, or 0.51%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,270.45 a troy ounce, compared to $1,268.25 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $46.69 a barrel from $46.74 earlier.