Continuing claims, however, ticked lower for the week ended Feb. 5, totaling 1.593 million from the previous week's revised print of 1.619 million.
Stocks fell Thursday as market participants grew concerned over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, leading to investors to shed more risky equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 600 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite fell by 2.1% and 2.8%, respectively.
Ongoing tension along the Russia-Ukraine border continued to weigh on market sentiment. On Thursday, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the conflict between the two nations had reach a "crucial moment" and Russia is moving towards an invasion at any moment.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -2.12% or -94.75 points to 4,380.26
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -1.78% or -622.24 points to 34,312.03
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -2.88% or -407.38 points to 13,716.72
Amazon, Visa agree to end global dispute over credit card fees:
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Visa (NYSE: V) have reached a global agreement to settle a dispute over the latter's credit card fees.
The deal means Amazon customers in the United Kingdom can continue to use Visa credit cards, and will also drop a 0.5% surcharge on Visa credit transactions in Singapore and Australia. Last month, Amazon said it has ended plans to stop accepting Visa credit cards in the U.K., with the companies saying they would continue talks to reach a resolution.
"We've recently reached a global agreement with Visa that allows all customers to continue using their Visa credit cards in our stores," an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC on Thursday. "Amazon remains committed to offering customers a payment experience that ti convenient and offers choice."
Housing starts fall for first time in four months in January:
Construction on new residential homes declined in January for the first time in four months as labor shortages weighed on building activity.
Housing starts declined by 4.1% last month to an annual rate of 1.64 million, according to the U.S. Commerce Department's latest report published Thursday. New home construction ticked 0.3% higher to a revised rate of 1.71 million in December.
Meanwhile, building permits--which provide insight of future construction--rose to an annualized 1.9 million units.
Jobless claims unexpectedly rise last week:
Initial unemployment filings unexpectedly rose last week, ending a recent downward trend since mid- January's Omicron-induced surge sent weekly jobless claims up to totals of nearly 300,000.
First-time jobless claims totaled 248,000 for the week ended Feb. 12, according to the Labor Department's latest report published Thursday. That print was above the previous week's revised total of 225,000.