Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. fell more than expected last week, remaining in territory consistent with a firming of the American labor market and bolstering optimism over the health of the U.S. economy, 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 April 1 decreased by 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 234,000 from the previous week’s total of 259,000 which had been revised from an initial reading of 258,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to drop by 8,000 from the original reading to 250,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims below the 300,000-level are usually associated with a firming labor market.
Meanwhile, continuing jobless claims in the week ended March 25 decreased to 2.028 million from 2.052 million in the preceding week.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to fall to 2.040 million.
The four-week moving average was 250,000, a drop of 4,500 from the previous week's revised reading of 254,500 (initially 254,250).
The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
After the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0656 compared to 1.0666 ahead of the release, GBP/USD was at 1.2459 from 1.2460 earlier, while USD/JPY traded at 110.95 compared to 110.84 before the publication.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 100.57, compared to 100.50 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open. The Dow futures rose 24 points, or 0.12%, the S&P 500 futures gained 3 points, or 0.11%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 7 points, or 0.13%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,253.15 a troy ounce, compared to $1,254.45 ahead of the data, while U.S. crude oil traded at $51.43 a barrel from $51.40 earlier.