![]()
- Mulling Buffett's Stock Advice? Get in With REITs: Fund Managers
- So Now You Can’t Give Microsoft Away?
- Groupon Needs More Disclosure: Analyst
- China’s Steelmakers Set for Turnaround: Analyst
- Bulls Bet Silicon Motion Will Bounce
- Tobacco Stocks a Hot Dividend Play: Analyst
- Forget the Earnings, Disney’s Issue Is the Multiple: Analyst
- Drug Stocks Do Well in ‘Gloom and Doom’ Market: Analyst
- The Secret Lives of Traders—Seeking the Next Hot Thing
- Markets Finally Get Greek Deal —So Where's the Rally?
- Warren Buffett: Stocks Will Outperform Gold and Bonds
- Alibaba Plans to Buy Back Yahoo Stake, Go Private
- Greece Deal Fails to Convince, EU Demands More
- 'Mortgage Deal from Hell' Hurts Sound Borrowers: Bove
- Clint Eastwood: Super Bowl Ad Endorses No One
- Zynga, Hasbro Partner to Make Toys, Games
- Home Builder Optimism Up, Industry Expert Says
MOST SHARED
- Stocks Looking Past Europe for a New Driver
- Canaccord, China's Eximbank Plan $1 Billion Resource Fund
- Jobs You Can Do Forever
- DBS Fourth-Quarter Profit Rises 8%; Tops Forecast
- Chart Patterns Suggest Pullback at Hand
- Australia's Newcrest First-Half Underlying Profit Up 17%
- Steelers' Antonio Brown Spends Super Bowl Week with Twitter Fan Turned BFF
- Mulling Buffett's Stock Advice? Get in With REITs: Fund Managers
- UPDATE: Massive Trend Just Getting Underway in Financial Services: Finerman
- LinkedIn Earnings Bode Well for Hiring and Social Media
MOST POPULAR
HOT ON FACEBOOK
Stocks Rise as Jobless Claims Drop; GM Jumps
Stocks opened higher Thursday after an unexpected drop in initial jobless claims.
Initial jobless claims dropped by 13,000 to 623,000 from a slightly revised 636,000. Still, continuing claims rose to another record around 6.8 million.
"With the impact of the Chrysler layoffs dropping out of the [claims] numbers the gradual downward trend is re-emerging," Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a note to clients. "We think claims will drift lower for the foreseeable future but we don't see hiring picking up anytime soon, so payrolls will keep falling," he said.
>> Slideshow: Which States Are Losing the Most Jobs?
Durable-goods orders rose 1.9 percent in April, the biggest jump in about a year and a half, but enthusiasm for that gain was tempered by a sharply lower revision for March. That number was originally reported as a 0.8-percent drop, but was revised to show a decline of 2.1 percent.
New-home sales ticked up 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 352,000 in April, but that was well short of the increase economists had expected, and March sales were revised to show a steeper drop than previously reported. The median home price fell nearly 15 percent to $209,700.
Still to come: The weekly oil inventory report — normally released on Wednesdays — is out this morning at 11 am ET, delayed because of the Memorial Day holiday. The weekly natural gas inventory report is out at its usual Thursday time of 10:30 am.
OPEC said it will keep output unchanged and instead focus on increased compliance. The organization also demanded that it not be referred to as a cartel anymore.
General Motors [GM
Loading...
()
] surged 13 percent as the automaker reached a debt-for-equity deal with bondholders. Bondholders will start with 10 percent equity, with 7.5 percent more when GM's market cap reaches $15 billion and $30 billion market.
Meanwhile, Visteon [VC
Loading...
()
], the largest parts maker for Ford, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its U.S. operations.
Shares of Procter & Gamble [PG
Loading...
()
] rose even as the maker of Gillette razors and Tide laundry detergent slashed its outlook, projecting 2010 net sales in a range of down 2 percent to up 1 percent.
In other earnings news, Costco Wholesale [COST
Loading...
()
] said its profit fell 29% as the company struggles to pare back its discretionary items and offer more staples.
And Toys R Us [TYJPY
Loading...
()
] said late Wednesday it has acquired rival FAO Schwarz for an undisclosed sum.
The dollar rose broadly on Thursday as yields on 10-year U.S. government bonds jumped more than half a percentage point in the past two weeks, drawing Japanese investors into overseas assets like global semi-conductor stocks, banks and U.S. junk bonds, according to Reuters.
The sharp rise in yields came despite strong demand at the two Treasury auctions this week, which soothed concern over the long-term U.S. credit ratings outlook.
The yield on the 10-Year Note slipped to 3.67 percent early Thursday.
Investors' focus will now turn to the third Treasury Note auction of the week later today, which is the sale of 7-year paper. (Read more about the Wednesday bond yield spike here).
Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard W. Fisher will talk at 6:20 pm New York time on the current economic crisis in Washington.
Time Warner [TWX
Loading...
()
] announced plans to spin off its AOL Internet division sometime near the end of the year.
Dell [DELL
Loading...
()
] shares rose ahead of earnings from the computer maker, due out after the closing bell. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuter expected earnings of 23 cents a share.
Still to Come:
THURSDAY: Weekly crude inventories; Fed's Fisher speaks; Earnings from Costco, Sears and Dell
FRIDAY: GDP; Chicago PMI; University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment; earnings from Tiffany
Send comments to .











