According to the United States Department of Labor, after several weeks of falling claims, initial jobless claims increased last week by 12,000, which increases the 4-week moving average by 2,500 claims. To read the full report, visit the website.
The National Association of Realtors reported today that sales of existing homes increased by 7.6 percent in August. Unfortunately, even among record-low interest rates (the national average was 4.43 percent in August according to Freddie Mac), existing home sales were still 19 percent below the level they reached in August of 2009.
For much of the day it looked like losses on the Dow Jones Industrial Average would be minimal, but in the last hour or so of trading, the Dow fell substantially. It closed down 76.89 points to 10,662.42 while the Nasdaq fell 7.47 points to 2,327.08. The S&P 500 dropped 9.45 points to 1,124.83.
European markets were down on Thursday, making it the third straight day of losses in Europe. Asian markets were mixed.
Stocks in the news: Red Hat Inc (NYSE: RHT), Novell Inc (NASDAQ: NOVL), Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC).
