week moving average of jobless claims-which smoothes weekly volatility to provide a better sense of job-market conditions-up by 6,250 to 283,000. In a third report, the Labor Department said U.S. import prices rose a surprisingly big 1.3 percent in January as the cost of imported petroleum jumped 6.4 percent, its first increase in four months. The rise in import prices, which followed a 0.1 percent drop in December, was higher than the 0.9 percent rise expected on Wall Street. Excluding petroleum, import prices rose just 0.2 percent last month. Crude-oil import prices surged 8 percent in January, bringing their increase over the past 12 months to 48.2 percent. The sharp rise in oil costs over the past year has pushed overall import prices up sharply and has heightened inflation worries.
