Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. unexpectedly increased last week, but remained near their lowest level since 1973, 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 March 18 increased by 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 258,000 from the previous week’s total of 243,000 which had been revised from an initial reading of 241,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to drop by 1,000 from the original reading to 240,000 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 11 decreased to 2.000 million from 2.039 million in the preceding week, which was revised from 2.030 million.
Analysts had expected continuing claims to settle at 2.035 million.
The four-week moving average was 240,000, a rise of 1,000 from the previous week's revised reading of 243,000 (initially 237,250).
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 1.0779 compared to 1.0775 ahead of the release, GBP/USD was at 1.2498 from 1.2493 earlier, while USD/JPY traded at 110.91 compared to 110.97 before the publication.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 99.56, compared to 99.59 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat open. The Dow futures were unchanged, the S&P 500 futures inched up 2 points, or 0.10%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 4 points, or 0.07%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,250.25 a troy ounce, compared to $1,249.35 ahead of the data, while U.S. crude oil traded at $48.06 a barrel from $48.19 earlier.