Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. rose more than expected last week, but remained in territory usually associated with a firming 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 November 28 increased by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 269,000 from the previous week’s total of 260,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 8,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims have held below the 300,000-level for 38 consecutive weeks, which is usually associated with a firming labor market.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended November 21 inched up to 2.161 million from 2.155 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to increase to 2.187 million.
The four-week moving average was 269,250, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's 271,000. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0683 from around 1.0664 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4966 from 1.4958 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 123.28 from 123.36 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 99.67, compared to 99.72 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 41 points, or 0.21%, the S&P 500 futures indicated a rise 7 points, or 0.31%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures increased 16 points, or 0.33%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,053.90 a troy ounce, compared to $1,054.40 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $40.64 a barrel from $40.69 earlier.