Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell more than expected last week in a continuing sign of strength from the 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 December 31 decreased by 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 235,000 from the previous week’s total of 263,000 which was revised from an initial reading of 265,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 5,000 to 260,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims below the 300,000-level are usually associated with a firming labor market.
On the downside, continuing jobless claims in the week ended December 24 unexpectedly rose to 2.112 million from 2.096 million in the preceding week, which was revised from 2.102 million. The data showed continuous claims at their highest level since the beginning of September.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to decrease to 2.051 million.
The four-week moving average was 256,750, a 5,750 decrease from the previous week's 262,500 (initially 263,000).
The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
The Department of Labor indicated that there were no special factors impacting this week’s initial claims and that it marked 96 consecutive weeks of initial claims below 300,000, the longest streak since 1970.
Immediately after the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0530 compared to 1.0511 ahead of the release, GBP/USD was at 1.2305 from 1.2282 earlier, while USD/JPY traded at 116.16 compared to 116.28 before the publication.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 102.15, compared to 102.23 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures inched down 11 points, or 0.06%, the S&P 500 futures fell 3 points, or 0.12%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures lost 7 points, or 0.14%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,176.25 a troy ounce, compared to $1,175.45 ahead of the data, while U.S. crude oil traded at $53.61 a barrel from $53.62 earlier.