Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose slightly less than expected and remained in territory consistent with a firming 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 August 27 increased by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 263,000 from the previous week’s total of 261,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000 to 265,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims below the 300,000-level are usually associated with a firming labor market.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended August 20 unexpectedly increased to 2.159 million from 2.145 million in the preceding week,.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to remain unchanged at 2.145 million.
The four-week moving average was 263,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's 264,000.
The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
Immediately after the report, that was released simultaneously with second quarter nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1137 from around 1.1141 ahead of the publication; GBP/USD was at 1.3255 from 1.3249 earlier; while USD/JPY changed hands at 103.83 from 103.75 before the release.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was trading at 96.10 compared to 96.08 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures rose 22 points, or 0.12%, the S&P 500 futures gained 2 points, or 0.10%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 11 points, or 0.23%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,306.55 a troy ounce, compared to $1,307.95 ahead of the data, while U.S. crude oil traded at $44.44 a barrel from $44.38 earlier.