Wall Street stock futures moved lower Thursday after a government report showed that U.S. job losses accelerated in June.

U.S. payrolls tumbled by 467,000 last month on widespread declines across manufacturing, construction and professional services, the U.S. Labour Department said Thursday.

Economists had forecast a decline of 350,000.

The unemployment rate rose to 9.5% from 9.4%, its highest level since August 1983.

Despite that grim report, new data on initial unemployment claims suggested there may be some stabilization in the rate of job losses. Initial jobless claims fell by 16,000 to 614,000 in the week ended June 27. The tally of continuing claims, those drawn by workers collecting benefits for more than one week in the week ended June 20 fell 53,000 to 6,702,000.

U.S. markets will be closed Friday for Independence Day.

In commodities news, oil futures fell more than US$1 a barrel, trading at US$68.26.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.6% at 9,876.15, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gave up 1.1% to finish at 18,178.05 as trading resumed after Wednesday’s holiday.

In Europe, the European Central Bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 1%.

London’s FTSE 100 Index was down 1% at 4,297.59, Frankfurt’s DAX index was down 1.6% at 4,825.9, and the CAC-40 Index in Paris was off 1.2% at 3,177.0.

Canadian markets were closed Wednesday for Canada Day.

On Tuesday, the Toronto Stock Exchange followed U.S. stocks lower after a report showed that U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly declined in May.

The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 101.86 points, or 1%, to close at 10,374.91.


The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 13.59 points, or 1.2%, to 1,091.97 during Tuesday’s trading.

The Canadian dollar fell by half a cent against the greenback, to close at US85.98¢.

IE