An already jittery stock market wasn’t helped by the latest reading on weekly jobless claims in the United States, which came in much worse than expected.
The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment benefits jumped by 25,000 to 471,000 for the week ended May 15. The results were not only in contrast to the decline of 4,000 that was estimated by economists, but were also a disappointment in light of recent gains made on the employment front.
The prior week’s total was also revised modestly higher, to 446,000 from 444,000.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average, which economists like because it can smooth out week-to-week gyrations, increased by 3,000 to 453,000.
The Labor Department said the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 8 were in California, Michigan, New Jersey, Georgia and Puerto Rico, while the largest decreases were in New York, Kentucky, Connecticut, Missouri and New Hampshire.
Stock futures were already under major pressure on further weakness in the euro, which fell nearly 1% after bouncing higher on Wednesday. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 160 points shortly after the release of the data.
