U.S. stock futures sagged Thursday after mixed economic data.

U.S. consumer prices stayed under wraps in October, rising 0.3%, as contained housing and clothing prices offset a big jump in energy costs.

The consumer price index rose 0.3% in October, the U.S. Labor Department said today, matching September’s increase. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, advanced 0.2% for a fifth-straight month. The headline and core gains matched Wall Street expectations,

Separately, first-time claims for state unemployment benefits jumped in the latest week, the U.S. Labor Department reported. The number of initial claims in the week ending November 10 rose 20,000 to 339,000, the highest level since the week ended October 13.

Meanwhile, Canadian manufacturing sales were down in September, as most industries reported weaker sales.

Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales declined 0.9% in September, continuing a weakening trend observed over the past six months. Sales of manufactured goods decreased to $50.4 billion from the $50.8 billion reported in August, and reached the lowest level posted since October 2006. Additionally, third quarter sales were 1.8% lower than those in the second quarter of 2007.

The Canadian dollar, which has climbed rapidly this year and has made Canadian goods more expensive to export, opened lower Thursday at US$1.0287 ahead of the latest U.S. inflation report. The loonie was down about six-tenths of a U.S. cent from Wednesday’s close.

In earnings news, chip-equipment maker Applied Materials Inc. said revenue in the current quarter may drop as much as 18%, as demand is weak from companies that manufacture memory chips used in computers.

Earnings season rolls on with results from J.C. Penney, Williams-Sonoma, and, after the close, Starbucks.

British bank Barclays Plc on Thursday became the latest bank to disclose writedowns, announcing it was writing off US$2.67 billion after subprime and related credit trouble from July to October. The writedown wasn’t as steep as some in the markets had feared.

In other financial news, Merrill Lynch & Co.has chosen John Thain, head of NYSE Euronext, as Merrill’s new chief executive.

Gold futures dropped US$13.40 an ounce, while crude-oil futures eased 37¢ to US$93.72 a barrel.

Overseas, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.7% in Tokyo, and the FTSE 100 weakened 1% in London.

Toronto stocks moved higher Wednesday, as a rebound in commodities prices boosted resource stocks and led the broader market higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 69.40 points, or 0.51%, to 13,774.54.

Eight of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up on the session.

The S&P TSX Venture Exchange surged 42.44 points, or 1.44%, to 2,998.76.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 76.08 points, or 0.57%, to 13,231.01, the Nasdaq composite index gave dropped 29.33, or 1.10%, to 2,644.32, and the S&P500 gave up 10.47, or 0.71%, to 1,470.58.