U.S. initial jobless claims fall by 24,000 to 334,000 last week

The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. fell more-than-expected last week, easing concerns over the U.S. jobs 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 July 13 fell by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 334,000, compared to expectations for a drop of 13,000 to 345,000.

Jobless claims for the preceding week were revised down to a gain of 358,000, from a previously reported 360,000.

Continuing jobless claims in the week ended July 6 rose to 3.114 million. Analysts had expected continuing claims to decline to 2.959 million from last week’s revised figure of 3.023 million.

The four-week moving average was 346,000, a decline of 5,250 from the previous week's revised average of 351,250.

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 gains against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.3% to trade at 1.3085.

Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures were little changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a gain of 0.1% at the open, S&P 500 futures pointed to a rise 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a decline of 0.1% at the open.