Forexpros – The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose significantly more-than-expected, while the previous week’s figure was revised higher, 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 July 14 rose by 34,000 to a seasonally adjusted 386,000, compared to expectations for an increase of 13,000 to 365,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 352,000 from a previously reported 350,000.
Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in 36 of the past 38 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 July 7 rose to 3.314 million from a revised 3.313 million. Analysts had expected continuing claims to decline to 3.299 million.
The four-week moving average was 375,500, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 377,000.
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 held on to mild losses against the euro, with EUR/USD adding 0.06% to trade at 1.2291.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures remained higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 0.3% at the open, S&P 500 futures indicated a rise of 0.35%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures signaled an increase of 0.6%.
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