Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week unexpectedly fell, continuing to show the strength of the American labor market and bolstering optimism over the 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 February 4 decreased by 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 234,000 from the previous week’s total of 246,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000 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 January 28 unexpectedly increased to 2.078 million from 2.063 million in the preceding week, which was revised from 2.064 million.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to decrease to 2.060 million.
The four-week moving average was 244,250, a 3,750 drop from the previous week's 248,000. That was the lowest level for this average since November 3, 1973 when it was 244,000.
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, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0679 compared to 1.0687 ahead of the release, GBP/USD was at 1.2559 from 1.2558 earlier, while USD/JPY traded at 112.41 compared to 112.30 before the publication.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 100.31, compared to 100.27 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat open. The Dow futures edged forward 10 points, or 0.05%, the S&P 500 futures inched up 1 point, or 0.06%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 2 points, or 0.04%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,241.25 a troy ounce, compared to $1,241.45 ahead of the data, while U.S. crude oil traded at $52.88 a barrel from $52.95 earlier.