FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures extended their losses Thursday after data showed a rise in weekly jobless claims and a disappointing revenue outlook from Cisco Systems Inc. weighed on the technology sector.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 79 points to 10,258, and S&P 500 futures fell 10.70 points to 1,074.30. Nasdaq 100 futures slid 21.25 points to 1,816.50. The number of initial claims for regular state unemployment insurance benefits rose 2,000 to 484,000 in the week ended Aug.7, reaching the highest level since February, the Labor Department reported. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a level of 463,000.
"Once again, we can say with near-total certainty that there is no meaningful improvement on the labor front," said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co., in an emailed note.
The four-week average of initial claims also increased to the highest level since February.
"We see these big companies starting to issue lower guidance for the rest of the year, and then we have all this bad macro news out of the U.S., with every report coming out worse than expected or worse than the previous month," said Mads Koefoed, market strategist at Saxo Bank.
