Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. rose unexpectedly, while the previous week's figure was revised up, 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 December 29 rose by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 372,000, compared to expectations for a decline of 7,000 to 355,000.
Jobless claims for the preceding week were revised up to 362,000 from a previously reported 350,000,
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended December 23 rose to 3.245 million. Analysts had expected continuing claims to increase to 3.215 million from last week's revised figure of 3.201 million.
The four-week moving average was 360,000, an increase of 250 from the previous week's revised average of 359,750.
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 0.63% to trade at 1.3104.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures were little changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a drop of 0.05% at the open, S&P 500 futures indicated a loss of 0.05%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures signaled a 0.05% increase.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
