Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell to the lowest level in six weeks, easing concerns over the strength of the 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 July 5 declined by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 304,000 from the previous week’s total of 315,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to hold steady at 315,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended June 28 rose to 2.584 million from 2.574 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to decline to 2.567 million.
The four-week moving average was 311,500, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week’s total of 315,000. 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 held on to gains against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.25% to trade at 1.3606.
Meanwhile, the outlook for U.S. equity markets was sharply lower. The Dow pointed to a loss of 0.8% at the open, the S&P 500 indicated a decline of 0.8%, while the Nasdaq 100 signaled a fall of 0.9%.