Equities, Oil, Dollar Tossed By Greece, China, Jobless

Apparently, you’ve got just about everything pulling and pushing the market this morning:

Initial jobless claims for last week were 460,000, up 18,000 from the prior week and above the 435,000 that observers were expecting. The numbers are somewhat thrown off by the floating date for Easter in last week’s reading, which makes seasonal adjustment more difficult, the U.S. Department of Labor notes.

And then you’ve the premium on Greek bonds spreading again wider this morning, to 7.5% from yesterday’s close of 7.16%, as theFT’s Anousha Sakouinotes. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, however, issued a press release this morning stating default is “Not an issue for Greece.” While the Wall Street Journal Notes that ordinary investors — such as pension fund managers — not just speculators have been taking out bearish bets against Greece to protect their investments.

And then you’ve got the head of the People’s Bank of China, Xia Bin, saying that China should ease some of its cheapYuanpolicy by returning to a managed-float foreign exchange system, just before U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is to meet with China’s premier.

The net result of all of this is that S&P 500 futures are down 5.3 points, at 1,173.70, the U.S. dollar has strengthened to $1.3312 per Euro from last night’s close of $1.3354, and futures on light sweet crude oil for delivery in May are down 96 cents at $85.88 per barrel.