Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. fell to the lowest level since May 2007 last week, according to official data released on Thursday.
The Labor Department reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 4 fell by 30,000 to a seasonally adjusted 300,000 from the previous week’s upwardly revised total of 332,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to decline to 320,000.
Continuing jobless claims declined to 2.77 million, the lowest since January 2008, from 2.83 million in the preceding week, compared to expectations for an uptick to 2.85 million.
The four-week moving average was 316,250, down from the previous week’s total of 319,500. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
Following the release of the data, the U.S. dollar remained close to three-week lows against the euro, with EUR/USD edging up 0.07% to trade at 1.3862.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed open. The Dow 30 futures pointed to a gain of 1.11%, S&P 500 futures indicated a drop of 0.11%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures signaled a decline of 0.12%.