New US jobless claims dip for third week, but Malaysia export drop 26.3%

The Labor Department said that the number of initial claims for jobless benefits in the week ending May 30 dipped to 621,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 625,000.

Malaysia's April exports dropped 26.3 percent year on year, according to official data released Thursday. The trade ministry said in a statement that exports fell to 41.12 billion ringgit (11.7 billion dollars) from a year ago while imports plunged 22.4 percent year on year in April to 33.76 billion ringgit.

Singapore, China, US, Japan and Thailand were the top five export destinations, accounting for 52.4 percent of exports for April. In April Malaysia's exports to China shrank 9.4 percent to 5.11 billion ringgit compared with a year ago, due to lower exports of palm oil and rubber. Exports to the US during the same period plunged 38.2 percent, due to lower exports of electrical and electronic products,