Investing.com – The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose unexpectedly, 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 August 19 rose by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 417,000, confounding expectations for a decline to 405,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 412,000 from 408,000.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended August 13 fell to 3.641 million from a revised 3.721 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing jobless claims to decline to 3.700 million.
Following the release of the data the U.S. dollar was fractionally lower against the euro, with EUR/USD easing up 0.05% to trade at 1.4422.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures added to losses following the data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a drop of 0.2%, S&P 500 futures slumped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.65%.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 19 rose by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 417,000, confounding expectations for a decline to 405,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 412,000 from 408,000.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended August 13 fell to 3.641 million from a revised 3.721 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing jobless claims to decline to 3.700 million.
Following the release of the data the U.S. dollar was fractionally lower against the euro, with EUR/USD easing up 0.05% to trade at 1.4422.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures added to losses following the data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a drop of 0.2%, S&P 500 futures slumped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.65%.