U.S. initial jobless claims fall by 26,000 to 319,000 last week

The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell more than expected, easing concerns over the strength of the labor market, official data showed on Thursday.

Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 20,000 to 325,000 last week.In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending May 3 decreased by 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 319,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 345,000.

Continuing jobless claims in the week ended April 26 fell to 2.685 million from 2.761 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to decline to 2.750 million.

The four-week moving average was 324,750, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week’s total of 320,250. 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 losses against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.33% to trade at 1.3956.

Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open. The Dowpointed to a loss of 0.02%, S&P 500 indicated a decline of 0.15%, while the Nasdaq 100 signaled a drop of 0.3%.

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Forex - Pound steady after BoE keeps policy unchanged

The pound was little changed close to recent almost five-year highs against the dollar on Thursday after the Bank of England kept monetary policy on hold at the conclusion of its two-day meeting, in a widely anticipated decision.

Cable was likely to find support at 1.6925 and resistance at 1.7000.GBP/USD was trading at 1.6965, not far from the peaks of 1.6993 reached on Tuesday, the strongest level since August 2009.

The BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep interest rates on hold at their current record low of 0.5%. The bank also made no change in its quantitative easing program, which remains at £375 billion.

The BoE will publish the minutes of this month’s meeting on Wednesday, May 21.

Expectations for a U.K. rate hike in the early part of next year have propelled sterling to multi-year highs against the dollar, after a recent string of strong economic reports indicated that the recovery is deepening.

Early last week BoE Governor Mark Carney said the U.K. recovery is starting to broaden, but added that the bank still sees plenty of slack in the labor market.

Data released on Thursday showed that U.K. house prices fell in April from a month earlier, easing concerns that the property market is overheating.

British house prices fell 0.2% last month, mortgage lender Halifax reported, and rose 8.5% in the three months to April, compared to the same period a year earlier, slowing from an increase of 8.5% in the three months to March.

Elsewhere, the pound was slightly lower against the euro, with EUR/GBPup 0.17% to 0.8218, after falling to a two-month trough of 0.8192 in the previous session.

Demand for the single currency continued to be underpinned as expectations for fresh easing measures from the European Central Bank waned ahead of the banks policy announcement later Thursday.

The ECB was widely expected to leave monetary policy on hold after recent data showed that the annual rate of inflation in the euro zone ticked up to 0.7% in April from a record low 0.5% in March.

The ECB targets inflation of close to but just below 2%.

The uptick in consumer prices eased pressure on the bank to take fresh steps to tackle low inflation in the region.

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Bank of England holds key rate at 0.50%, QE unchanged at £375B

The Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged in May and announced no change to its asset purchase facility program, it said on Thursday.

The minutes of the meeting of the central bank’s monetary policy committee will be published on Wednesday, May 21.The BoE said it was maintaining the benchmark interest rate at 0.50%, in a widely expected move. The bank also said it was to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.

Following the announcement, the pound held on to modest gains against the U.S. dollar, with GBP/USD easing up 0.12% to trade at 1.6973.

Meanwhile, European stock markets remained higher. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5%, the Euro Stoxx 50 added 0.6%, France’s CAC 40advanced 0.6%, while Germany's DAX tacked on 0.4%.

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U.S. futures steady, eyes on jobless report; Dow Jones up 0.09%

U.S. stock futures pointed to a steady open on Thursday, as remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen lent support to U.S. equities, but investors remained cautious ahead of U.S. jobless claims data later in the day.

U.S. equity markets strengthened after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday that a high degree of monetary accommodation remains warranted given the slack in the economy.Ahead of the open, the Dow 30futures pointed to a 0.09% rise,S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.01% uptick, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.02% dip.

Ms. Yellen also said the Fed expects economic growth to accelerate this year despite the slowdown in the first quarter but warned that the recent housing market slowdown "could prove more protracted than currently expected."

The auto sector was set to be in focus, after Ford Motor (NYSE:F) said it will repurchase $1.8 billion of its shares to reduce dilution from recent stock grants to executives. The news sent shares in the automaker up 1.03%.

Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) was also expected to remain in the spotlight, as the casino operator was said to be looking for ways to reduce capacity in Atlantic City's struggling market, including closing properties.

The group had announced earlier in the week that it is selling a minority interest in its largest unit, setting the stage for a wider restructuring.

Elsewhere, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was slated to be active following news NBC is set to pay an average of 16% more for rights to broadcast the Olympic Games in the U.S. through 2032, far below the price hikes that sports such as soccer and American football have commanded.

Meanwhile, AT&T (NYSE:T) shares rose 0.25% in after-hour trade amid reports the mobile-phone carrier is in talks to buy satellite-television company DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV).

Other stocks likely to be in focus included Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LMCA), Priceline.com (NASDAQ:PCLN) and News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA), scheduled to report quarterly results later in the day.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 advanced 0.66%, France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.57%, Germany'sDAX gained 0.57%, while Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.49%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.42%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 0.93%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish the weekly report on initial jobless claims.

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Forex Signal for 6th May 2014

                                                                                


Japan (Tokyo)                               United Kingdon (London)                        USA (New York)

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EUR/USD

 Up Trend : 

 (1) SELL

Entry Point: 1.38750 

Take Profit: 1.38350

Stop Loss:   1.39100

 ,

GBP/USD

Down Trend:

(1) SELL

Entry Point: 1.69680 

Take Profit: 1.68280

Stop Loss:   1.70000

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