An unexpectedly high increase in initial jobless claims in the U.S. last week is keeping futures weak and pointing to a soft start for equities trading Thursday.

Claims grew by 5,000 to 434,000 last week, says the U.S. Labor Department. That’s the highest number in five weeks. The four-week average rose by 1,000 to 426,750, well above the 400,000 comfort level.

But American investors did get some good news this morning. Prices of imported goods rose for the first time in three months in June, amid a rebound in petroleum prices. That’s good news for the American dollar, though its bad news for the rest of the world’s currencies.

The Canadian dollar is trading around 72.05¢ this morning. That’s the fifth straight drop, and the first time the loonie has declined for five sessions since last October. The drop, says analysts, is partly due to speculation that the Bank of Canada might cut interest rates when it meets next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, though, Statistics Canada is reporting that new house prices continued to climb in May, as the New Housing Price Index rose 0.6%, up from 0.4% in April. On a 12-month basis, this index of contractors’ selling prices advanced 4.4%. This is down slightly from last month when the published annual increase was 4.5%.

Overseas, Asian markets finished their Thursday down. The Nikkei closed at 9,955.62, down 35.33 points. The Hang Seng Index closed at 9,983.31 on Thursday, down 44.10 points, or 0.44%.

At midday on Thursday at the London Stock Exchange, the Financial Times 100-share index down 27.4 points at 4,027.3. The Bank of England cut its main interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.5%.

France’s CAC is down 1.13% and Germany’s DAX is off 1.51%.