Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell unexpectedly, remaining 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 May 13 decreased by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 232,000 from the previous week’s total of 236,000, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000 to 240,000 last week.
The four-week moving average was 240,750, down 2,750 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 May 6 dipped to the lowest level since 1973 at 1.898 million from 1.920 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to inch up to 1.960 million.
USD/JPY was at 110.73 from around 110.56 ahead of the release of the data, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1127 from around 1.1135 earlier, while GBP/USD was at 1.3019 from 1.3027.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97.51, compared to 97.42 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures trimmed losses, but still pointed to a lower open. The blue-chip Dow futures fell 73 points, the S&P 500 futures dipped 7 points while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures shed 3 points.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,260.10 a troy ounce, compared to $1,261.00 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $48.36 a barrel from $48.44 earlier.