The Labor Department released their initial jobless claims for the week of October 2nd today (you can see the full report here). Claims decreased by 11,000, beating analysts’ expectations. This also reduced the 4-week moving average by 3,000.
In more economic news, the Federal Reserve released their August 2010 Consumer Credit report (which you can find here) today. Analysts anticipated that outstanding credit debt would decline by $3 billion, but actual numbers exceeded that estimate. The report shows that outstanding consumer credit fell by $3.34 billion in August and revolving credit by $5 billion. Interestingly, non-revolving credit actually increased in August by $1.65 billion which means that big ticket purchases are increasing.
Pepsico Inc (NYSE: PEP) released their 3rd quarter 2010 financial results today. Their net revenues grew 40 percent while their net income was up 12 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 15.82 points today to 10,951.83 while the Nasdaq gained 4.58 to 2,385.24. The S&P 500 dropped 1.62 points to 1,158.35.
European markets were mixed on Thursday as were Asian markets.
Stocks in the news: Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA), Marriott International Inc (NYSE: MAR), ProLogis (NYSE: PLD).
