Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. rose more than expected last week, although they remained in territory consistent with a firming of the American 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 May 27 increased by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 248,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 235,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise to 239,000 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 May 20 fell to 1.915 million from 1.924 million in the preceding week which was revised up from an initial reading of 1.923 million.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to dip to only 1.920 million.
The four-week moving average was 238,000, a rise of 2,500 from the previous week's revised reading of 235,500 (initially 235,250).
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 1.1209 from around 1.1205 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2859 from 1.2850 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 111.34 compared to 111.37 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 97., compared to 97.23 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat to higher open. The Dow futures edged forward 0.07%, the S&P 500 futures advanced 0.13%, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.19%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,263.26 a troy ounce, compared to $1,262.26 ahead of the data, while crude oil was at $48.44 a barrel, compared to $48.45 before the release.