Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell more than expected, staying close to the lowest level in more than four decades, official data showed on Thursday.
The number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 29 decreased by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 240,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 245,000, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 3,000 to 242,000 last week.
The four-week moving average was 241,750, down 2,500 from the previous week. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended July 22 inched up to 1.968 million from 1.965 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to dip to 1.955 million.
USD/JPY was at 110.31 from around 110.29 ahead of the release of the data, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1868 from around 1.1872 earlier, while GBP/USD was at 1.3129 from 1.3133.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 92.75, compared to 92.72 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a muted open. The blue-chip Dow futures fell 2 points, the S&P 500 futures declined 2 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures tacked on 8 points.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,266.08 a troy ounce, compared to $1,267.44 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $49.76 a barrel from $49.78 earlier.