Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell unexpectedly to hit a 14-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 March 7 fell by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 315,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 324,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 6,000 to 330,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended February 28 fell to 2.855 million from 2.903 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to decrease to 2.900 million.
The four-week moving average was 330,500, a decline of 6,250 from the previous week’s total 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 held on to losses against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.28% to trade at 1.3943.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 0.15%, S&P 500 futures indicated a rise of 0.2%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures signaled an increase of 0.3%.