Investing.com - The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims in the United States jumped last week, defying forecasts, official data showed on Thursday.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, last week's figure was 473,000, an increase of 31,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 442,000. Economists had in fact expected the number to drop to 435,000.
In a separate report on Thursday, the department said its producer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% on a monthly basis in January.
European stock markets dropped in the wake of the reports, and U.S. stock futures pointed to losses: Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a fall of 0.34%, S&P 500 futures pointed to a decline of 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a drop of 0.20%.
The U.S. dollar, meanwhile, rose against the euro and pound following the release of the data, with EUR/USD dropping 0.39% to hit 1.3554 and GBP/USD shedding 0.69% to hit 1.5564.