Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell more than expected, nearing the lowest level in more than four decades, official data showed on Thursday.
The number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 22 rose by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 244,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 234,000, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 7,000 to 241,000 last week.
The four-week moving average was 244.000, unchanged from the previous week 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 July 22 fell to 1.964 million from 1.977 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to drop to 1.950 million.
USD/JPY was at 111.45 from around 111.35 ahead of the release of the data, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1691 from around 1.1696 earlier, while GBP/USD was at 1.3140 from 1.3148.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 93.58, compared to 93.53 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a steady to higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures rose 0.6%, the S&P 500 futures added 0.16%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.69%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,263.85 a troy ounce, compared to $1,263.36 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $48.45 a barrel from $48.44 earlier.