U.S. weekly jobless claims hit two-and-a-half-year high; mid-Atlantic factory activity plunges

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits surged by the most since 2012 to a 2-1/2-year high last week, as companies in the services sectors laid off workers because of the coronavirus pandemic.The darkening economic outlook was underscored by other data on Thursday that showed factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region plunged to its lowest level since 2012 in March, as the highly contagious virus disrupted the supply chain. The coronavirus has crippled..