Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. fell more than expected last week, matching the lowest level in 42 years, 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 October 10 decreased by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 255,000 from the previous week’s total of 262,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 8,000 to 270,000.
First-time jobless claims have held below the 300,000-level for 31 consecutive weeks, which is usually associated with a firming labor market.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended October 3 fell to 2.158 million from 2.208 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to decline to 2.195 million.
The four-week moving average was 265,000, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week’s total of 267,250. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1407 from around 1.1442 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5450 from 1.5471 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 118.48 from 118.22 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.32, compared to 94.07 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures rose 89 points, or 0.53%, the S&P 500 futures tacked on 15 points, or 0.72%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 36 points, or 0.83%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,186.60 a troy ounce, compared to $1,188.80 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $46.24 a barrel from $46.28 earlier.