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 15 decreased by 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 233,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 248,000, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 3,000 to 245,000 last week.
The four-week moving average was 243,750, down 2,250 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 8 inched up to 1.977 million from 1.949 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to dip to 1.950 million.
USD/JPY was at 112.24 from around 112.20 ahead of the release of the data, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1490 from around 1.1492 earlier, while GBP/USD was at 1.2951 from 1.2948.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.92, compared to 95.90 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a modestly higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures rose 22 points, or around 0.1%, the S&P 500 futures added 4 points, or about 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures tacked on 16 points, or roughly 0.3%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,237.95 a troy ounce, compared to $1,238.32 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $47.69 a barrel from $47.64 earlier.