Investing.com – The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell unexpectedly, dropping to the lowest level since March 2008, 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 11 fell by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, confounding expectations for an increase of 3,000 to 364,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 361,000 from 358,000.
Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in 14 of the past 16 weeks.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended February 4 fell to 3.426 million, confounding expectations for a gain to 3.550 million, the lowest since August 2008.
Continuing claims for the previous week were revised up to 3.526 million from 3.515 million.
The average of new claims over the past four weeks decreased by 1,750 to 365,250, the lowest since April 2008.
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 gains against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.49% to trade at 1.3003.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock future indices turned higher after the release of the data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a modest gain of 0.05%, S&P 500 futures pointed to a flat open, 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 February 11 fell by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, confounding expectations for an increase of 3,000 to 364,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 361,000 from 358,000.
Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in 14 of the past 16 weeks.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended February 4 fell to 3.426 million, confounding expectations for a gain to 3.550 million, the lowest since August 2008.
Continuing claims for the previous week were revised up to 3.526 million from 3.515 million.
The average of new claims over the past four weeks decreased by 1,750 to 365,250, the lowest since April 2008.
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 gains against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.49% to trade at 1.3003.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock future indices turned higher after the release of the data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a modest gain of 0.05%, S&P 500 futures pointed to a flat open, while the Nasdaq 100 futures pointed to a gain of 0.15%.