Dow now at 10,051, down eight points.
NEW YORK (AP) — Major stock indexes turned mixed Thursday as a
drop in new claims for unemployment benefits wasn’t enough to
resolve worries about the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 9 points in midday trading
after getting an early 45-point lift from the weekly unemployment
report. Broader indexes also fluctuated.
The early boost from the positive jobless claims report turned out
to be fleeting as investors returned their focus to nagging
problems in the economy.
The market’s attention is already turning to a speech early Friday
by Ben Bernanke to see if the Federal Reserve chairman sheds any
light on the conundrum that stock investors are currently wrestling
with: How weak is the U.S. economy and will it slide back into
recession?
Investors want to “see if the pulse of the Fed is beating at a fast
rate with anxiety over the economy,” said Peter Cardillo, chief
market economist at Avalon Partners Inc.
The Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment
benefits dropped to 473,000 last week, after jumping above 500,000
for the first time since November a week earlier. Economists were
expecting a more modest drop to 490,000, according to Thomson
Reuters.
