Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. rose less than expected last week, holding close to the lowest level in 42 years, 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 October 17 increased by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 259,000 from the previous week’s total of 256,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 9,000 to 265,000.
First-time jobless claims have held below the 300,000-level for 32 consecutive weeks, which is usually associated with a firming labor market.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended October 10 rose to 2.170 million from 2.164 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to increase to 2.188 million.
The four-week moving average was 263,250, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week’s total of 265,250. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1247 from around 1.1249 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5444 from 1.5457 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 119.89 from 119.80 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.56, compared to 95.37 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures rose 89 points, or 0.53%, the S&P 500 futures tacked on 9 points, or 0.42%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 26 points, or 0.57%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,166.40 a troy ounce, compared to $1,166.00 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $45.92 a barrel from $45.94 earlier.