Forexpros – The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell by 2,000, 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 May 19 fell by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 370,000, in line with expectations.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 372,000 from 370,000.
Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in 28 of the past 30 weeks, though lately claims have been pushing higher from the 350,000 associated with above-average job growth.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended May 12 fell to 3.260 million from an upwardly revised 3.289 million. Analysts had expected continuing claims to decline to 3.250 million.
The four-week moving average was 370,000, a decrease of 5,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 375,500.
The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
Following the release of the data, the U.S. dollar remained higher against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.17% to trade at 1.2561.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures turned modestly lower following the data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a decline of 0.1%, S&P 500 futures pointed to a flat open, while the Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.2%.
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