Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose more than expected, but remained in territory consistent with a strengthening labor market, official data showed on Thursday.
The number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 22 increased by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 257,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 243,000, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 2,000 to 245,000 last week.
The four-week moving average was 242,250, down 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 April 15 rose to 1.988 million from 1.978 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to inch down to 2.005 million.
USD/JPY was at 111.42 from around 111.40 ahead of the release of the data, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0888 from around 1.0890 earlier, while GBP/USD was at 1.2885 from 1.2888.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 98.95, compared to 98.93 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures rose 22 points, the S&P 500 futures added 2 points while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 6 points.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,265.10 a troy ounce, compared to $1,265.30 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $48.73 a barrel from $48.74 earlier.