Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose unexpectedly, but remained in territory consistent with a strengthening labor market, official data showed on Thursday.
The number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending Nov. 11 increased by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 249,000 from the previous week’s total of 239,000, the U.S. Department of Labor said. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 4,000 to 235,000 last week.
The four-week moving average was 237,750, up 6,500 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 Nov. 4 inched down to 1.860 million from 1.904 million in the preceding week, compared to expectations for a drop to 1.895 million.
USD/JPY was at 113.05 from around 113.10 ahead of the release of the data, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1775 from around 1.1770 earlier, while GBP/USD was at 1.3203 from 1.3197.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 93.79, compared to 93.83 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures rose 0.3%, the S&P 500 futures added 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained around 0.4%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,280.56 a troy ounce, compared to $1,278.56 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $55.17 a barrel from $55.20 earlier.