Investing.com - U.S. non-farm productivity declined more than initially expected in the first quarter, while unit labor costs rose sharply, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said non-farm business sector labor productivity decreased by a seasonally adjusted 3.1% in the first three months of the year, worse than expectations for a decline of 2.9% and compared to an initial estimate of a drop of 1.9%.
The report also said unit labor costs increased by a seasonally adjusted 6.7% in the first quarter, above forecasts for a gain of 5.9% and up from a preliminary estimate of 5.0%.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1313 from around 1.1322 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5385 from 1.5386 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 124.27 from 124.19 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.09, compared to 95.03 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures pointed to a drop of 0.45%, the S&P 500 futures shed 0.5%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 0.65%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,178.00 a troy ounce, compared to $1,179.00 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $59.48 a barrel from $59.63 earlier.