Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell to a 13-week low, 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 February 28 fell by 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 349,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 11,000 to 338,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended February 21 fell to 2.907 million from 2.915 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to increase to 2.973 million.
The four-week moving average was 336,500, a decline of 2,000 from the previous week’s total of 338,500. 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 trimmed losses against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.04% to trade at 1.3739, compared to 1.3750 ahead of the data.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures pointed to a firm open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 0.25%, S&P 500 futures indicated a rise of 0.25%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures signaled an increase of 0.2%.