Washington » February is shaping up to be another brutal month of job losses: The number of laid-off workers receiving unemployment benefits hit an all-time high of nearly 5 million, and new jobless claims are at levels not seen since the early 1980s.

Wholesale inflation also surged unexpectedly in January, according to the Labor Department, led by a 3.7 percent surge in energy prices. Gasoline prices jumped 15 percent, the biggest gain in 14 months. Even outside the volatile food and energy sectors, wholesale prices showed a bigger-than-expected increase, rising 0.4 percent.

Worries about the economy dragged the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 90 points Thursday to close at 7,465.95, its lowest level in more than six years.

"It is definitely, definitely a blow to psychology," said Quincy Krosby, chief investment strategist at The Hartford, referring to the Dow's finish. "There is more pessimism in the market as to when the economy is going to pick up steam."

The Dow had been teetering close to November's bottom since Tuesday, when the index tumbled 300 points on worries about the economy and the stability of banks in Eastern Europe.

Worries about financial and technology stocks weighed on the market, with steep drop-offs in financial bellwethers like Citigroup and Bank of America leading the way downward. Both stocks tumbled 14 percent and closed below $4.

"The Dow represents, to the average investor, the American economy," Krosby said. While professional investors often look at indexes like the Standard & Poor's 500 index, the Dow's slide is an unwelcome milestone. "It's a tenet of the market, selling begets selling. You're going to see the market on guard."

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of people receiving regular unemployment benefits rose by 170,000 to 4.99 million for the week ending Feb. 7, marking the fourth straight week continuing claims have hit a record.

The surge in joblessness has pushed those claims far above the 2.77 million people getting benefits a year ago. The number totals 6.54 million with the inclusion of an additional 1.5 million people who are getting extended benefits under a program passed by Congress last summer.

The government reported Thursday that new jobless claims for last week totaled 627,000, the same level as the previous week but higher than economists had expected. It also was near the recent high of 631,000 hit three weeks ago, which was the most new weekly claims since 1982 when the country was in another severe recession. The three straight weeks of seasonally adjusted claims above 600,000 also is the longest stretch in more than 26 years.

"The labor market is in disarray," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "We are seeing job losses across nearly every industry and every region of the country."

Based on current trends, net job losses for February could well top 700,000, Zandi said. That would surpass the 598,000 jobs lost in January, which had been the biggest total since 1974.

Even with approval of the $787 billion economic stimulus package this week, economists are warning that any recovery may not take hold until late this year at the earliest, given that the housing market is still deteriorating, the financial market has yet to stabilize and job losses are mounting.