Investing.com – The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell more-than-expected, 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 January 28 fell by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 367,000, beating expectations for a decline to 373,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 379,000 from 377,000.
Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in 12 of the past 14 weeks.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended January 21 fell to 3.437 million, beating expectations for a decline to 3.565 million. Continuing claims for the previous week were revised up to 3.567 million from 3.554 million.
The average of new claims over the past four weeks decreased by 2,000 to 375,750. 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 pared gains against the euro, with EUR/USD down 0.31% to trade at 1.3119.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock future indices turned mixed to higher after the release of the data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a modest decline of 0.05%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures pointed to a gain of 0.15%.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending January 28 fell by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 367,000, beating expectations for a decline to 373,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 379,000 from 377,000.
Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in 12 of the past 14 weeks.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended January 21 fell to 3.437 million, beating expectations for a decline to 3.565 million. Continuing claims for the previous week were revised up to 3.567 million from 3.554 million.
The average of new claims over the past four weeks decreased by 2,000 to 375,750. 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 pared gains against the euro, with EUR/USD down 0.31% to trade at 1.3119.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock future indices turned mixed to higher after the release of the data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a modest decline of 0.05%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures pointed to a gain of 0.15%.