North American markets are likely to open higher Thursday, despite a surge in weekly U.S. jobless claims, as traders focus on retailers’ December sales reports.

Earlier today, the U.S. Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose by 43,000 to a 364,000, in the week that ended Jan. 1. That’s the biggest increase since the week of March 30, 2002.

December unemployment reports for both the U.S. and Canada are due to be released Friday.

Among U.S. retailers, Wal-Mart Stores said its December same-store sales rose 3%, meeting the high end of forecasts, thanks to a post-Christmas shopping surge boosted in part by higher gift-card redemptions. Sears and Toys RUs both reported sales declines in December at stores that have been open more than a year.

There are no major economic reports from Statistics Canada today.

Falling gold and energy prices continued to plague Bay Street Wednesday, sending the S&P/TSX to a second-consecutive triple-digit loss, while Wall Street failed to sustain early momentum from better-than-expected economic news that temporarily helped offset renewed concerns about inflation.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index was off 121.93 points or 1.33% at 9,021.05, while the TSX Venture composite index fell 22.16 points or 1.24% to 1,765.46. Volume on the S&P/TSX was 246.5 million shares.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average slid into the red late in the last half-hour of trading, finishing down 32.95 points or 0.31% at 10,597.83, while the Nasdaq composite index slid 16.62 points or 0.79% lower at 2091.24. The S&P 500 lost 4.31 points or 0.36% at 1,183.74.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.19¢, to US81.59¢.