Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose more-than-expected, dampening optimism 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 January 25 increased by 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 329,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 1,000 to 330,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended January 18 fell to 2.991 million from 3.007 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to rise to 3.020 million.
The four-week moving average was 330,000, an increase of 750 from the previous week's average of 329,250. 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 euro added to losses against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD shedding 0.69% to trade at 1.3569, compared to 1.3583 ahead of the data.
Meanwhile, the outlook for U.S. equity markets remained higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a gain of 0.4% at the open, S&P 500 futures pointed to an increase of 0.35%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a rise of 0.75%.