On the heels of other signals that the world's biggest economy is slowing down, the data helped drag Brent crude futures, a bellwether for global activity, down 2.4% for their steepest single-day drop in five weeks.
"The trend higher in jobless claims clearly shows a slowing in the labour market and plays to views of a U.S. recession in 2023," said National Australia Bank's head of market economics, Tapas Strickland. The slowdown signals have also weighed on the U.S. dollar as traders bet on some 50 bps in U.S. rate cuts this year.
Corporate governance in Japan has suddenly become a cause celebre, and seems to be rousing the world's third-largest stock market out of decades of lethargy. Japan's consumer inflation held steady above the central bank's target in March, data showed on Friday, keeping alive market bets that the Bank of Japan could phase out its policy of enormous bond buying to pin down government bond yields.
"We think that changes at the June meeting are now more likely, as long as financial unrest in the U.S. and Europe does not flare up again."