October Inflation Zero; Weekly Jobless Claims Unchanged

Inflation was unchanged in October, while unemployment hit its lowest level since early 2001.

Tea leaves from stock-index futures in light of the reports were mixed at around 10 a.m., with the Dow Jones Industrial Index futures off 27 percent and the NASDAQ 100 futures up 6.25 percent. S&P 500 Index futures were off 1.9 percent.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday that dropping gasoline prices offset increases in shelter and other items to leave its October Consumer Price Index unchanged.

Over the past 12 months, the index is up 1.7 percent before seasonal adjustment. Retail food prices are up 3.1 percent while energy prices are down 1.6 percent over the last 12 months.

Also Thursday, the Department of Labor said the four-week moving average number of unemployed people was 2.37 million, down slightly from the previous week and at its lowest level since January 13, 2001, when it was 2.36 million.

For the single week ended November 8, the figure fell 73,000 to 2.33 million.