Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week jumped more than expected, though the reading still remained 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 April 29 increased by 17,000 to a seasonally adjusted 274,000 from the previous week’s total of 257,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 260,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims have held below the 300,000-level, which is usually associated with a firming labor market, for 61 consecutive weeks.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended April 20 fell to 2.121 million from 2.121 million in the preceding week. The previous week’s figure was revised up from 2.130 million.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to rise to 2.133 million.
The four-week moving average was 258,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 256,000. 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 1.1433 from around 1.1435 ahead of the publication; GBP/USD was at 1.4510 from 1.4502 earlier; while USD/JPY was at 107.05 from 107.11 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 93.50, compared to 93.52 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open. The Dow futures rose 41 points, or 0.23%, the S&P 500 futures gained 6 points, or 0.27%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 13 points, or 0.29%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,284.25 a troy ounce, compared to $1,282.90 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $45.70 a barrel from $45.59 earlier.