Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell less than expected, underlining 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 15 fell by 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 336,000 from the previous week’s total of 339,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 4,000 to 335,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended February 8 rose to 2.981 million from 2.944 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to increase to 2.970 million.
The four-week moving average was 338,500, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average of 336,750. 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 gains against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.18% to trade at 1.3709, compared to 1.3703 ahead of the data.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a loss of 0.25%, S&P 500 futures indicated a decline of 0.3%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures signaled a drop of 0.3%.