Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell to the lowest level since early December, 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 22 declined by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 311,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 321,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000 to 325,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended March 15 fell to 2.823 million from 2.876 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to decline to 2.875 million.
The four-week moving average was 317,750, a decline of 9,500 from the previous week’s total of 327,250. 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 added to gains against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.23% to trade at 1.3753, compared to 1.3761 ahead of the data.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed open. The Dow 30 futures pointed to a gain of 0.1%, S&P 500 futures indicated a flat open, while the Nasdaq 100 futures signaled a gain of 0.1%.