Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell less than expected, but held near the lowest level since March 1973, underlining optimism over the health of the labor market.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 11 declined by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 241,000 from the previous week’s total of 243,000.
Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 3,000 to 240,000 last week.
The four-week moving average was 237,250, up 750 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 March 4 declined to 2.030 million from 2.060 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to inch down to 2.050 million.
USD/JPY was at 113.35 from around 113.31 ahead of the release of the data, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0718 from around 1.0720 earlier, while GBP/USD was at 1.2354 from 1.2357.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 100.38, compared to 100.36 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures tacked on 40 points, the S&P 500 futures added 2 points while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up 8 points.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,231.40 a troy ounce, compared to $1,231.60 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $49.25 a barrel from $49.23 earlier.