Jobless claims in US fall slightly to 1.51m

Applications for unemployment benefits in the United States fell less than forecast, with initial jobless claims for regular state programs totaling 1.51 million in the week ending June 13, down slightly from 1.57 million in the prior week, US Labor Department figures showed.

The 11th straight weekly drop pushed claims further away from a record 6.867 million in late March. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 1.3 million claims in the latest week.

The gauge remains incredibly high despite employers hiring a record 2.5 million workers in May.

Earlier this week, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers that "significant uncertainty remains about the timing and strength of the recovery."

US equity futures dropped with European stocks as investors weighed the latest reports about fresh Covid-19 outbreaks in China and America. Contracts of S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq 100 held their declines after weekly jobless claims stayed above one million.

Elsewhere, Australia's unemployment rate shot up to 7.1 percent, the highest since October 2001, with 227,700 people losing their jobs after a record slump of about 600,000 in April. The number of employees who worked fewer hours or no hours at all fell to 1.55 million from 1.8 million in April, with those working zero hours falling to 360,000.