In a sharp shift from recent financial-market trends, the U.S. dollar is suffering broad-based losses alongside equity futures contracts on Thursday morning. With futures contracts on the Dow Jones industrial average down 81 points to 8634, the greenback is down against all major foreign currencies following the release of much-weaker-than-expected jobless claims and import price index figures out of the U.S. Initial claims for unemployment benefits in the United States soared to their highest level since 1982 with 573k people filing for benefits in the week ending Dec. 5, a figure much higher than expected, the Department of Labor reported. Initial jobless claims were forecast to rise to 525k. Meanwhile, U.S. import prices declined 6.7% month-over-month in November while posting a 4.4% annual decline, according to data released from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the past few months during the financial crisis, the U.S. dollar has traditionally made gains as equity markets sold off. Bucking that trend, however, the euro is now up 0.0222 to 1.3248 against the greenback. Prior to the release of the numbers, it had been at 1.3210 levels. In response to the U.S. dollar selloff, Gain Capital Group chief currency trader Tim O'Sullivan said the safe-haven U.S. dollar may have begun to reach the end of its rope. "I think that idea is starting to use a lot of its luster in the sense that, if you take a look at the panic index [the VIX], internally we have our own fear indexes, they're starting to come off, so I think that's offering some respite to all the euro selling all the dollar buying that has been going on for the last three months," he wrote, calling for the EUR/USD to test 1.3500 within the next two weeks leading up to the new year. Conversely, the greenback is down 0.0056 to 0.6708 against the pound sterling, turning lower from 0.6716 levels

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