Investing.com - The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. unexpectedly fell last week, coming in just above the 15 year low reached two weeks ago, indicating that the recovery in the labor market is continuing.
The Department of Labor said the number of Americans filing claims for initial jobless benefits in the week ending May 9 fell by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 264,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to increase to 275,000.
Continuing jobless claims came in at 2.2 million, broadly unchanged from the previous week and in line with forecasts.
The four-week moving average was 271,750, down from the previous week’s total of 279,500. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was at 93.33 little changed from almost four-month lows of 93.4 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a broadly higher open. The Dow futures rose 0.55%, the S&P 500 futures added 0.57%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.68%.