Investing.com -
Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose unexpectedly, underlining concerns over the strength of the 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 June 7 increased by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 317,000 from the previous week's revised total of 313,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 3,000 to 310,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended May 31 rose to 2.614 million from 2.603 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to fall to 2.598 million.
The four-week moving average was 315,250, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week's total of 312,500. 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 turned lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.06% to trade at 1.3539, compared to 1.3524 ahead of the data.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures turned mixed. The Dow pointed to a gain of 0.1%, the S&P 500 indicated a decline of 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 signaled a drop of 0.1%.
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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.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.