U.S. stocks fell slightly on Thursday midday. Despite positive U.S. economic data, investors in the stock market record high of more than two years after profit-taking, leading the broader market lower.
At 11:59 on December 30 EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30.01 points to 11,555.37 points, down 0.26%; the Nasdaq composite index fell 4.13 points to 2,662.80 points, down 0.15%; the S & P 500 Index fell 3.18 points to 1,256.60 points, down 0.25%.
Created in the Dow Wednesday August 28, 2008, after a new high since the close on Thursday, the index fell slightly. Dow component DuPont (DD) dropped 0.6%, American Express (AXP) fell 0.9%, Pfizer (PFE) fell 0.6%. Among rising stocks, Alcoa (AA) rose 0.2%, Bank of America (BAC) rose 0.1%, Intel (INTC) rose 0.3%.
Decline in the financial and utilities sector lead.
Economic data side, the U.S. Department of Labor announced in the pre-one weeks ended December 25 initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 3.4 million, to a seasonally adjusted 38.8 million, which is the figure from the first time since July 2008 dropped to under 40 million. Economists on average expect the number of claims for unemployment benefits last week, will reduce the 2,000 people. Previous week's initial jobless claims increased from 42 million previously announced revised slightly to 422,000.
Four-week moving average of new jobless claims fell by 1.25 million people, fell to 414,000, also reached its lowest level since July 2008. Four-week moving average of the data to better reflect labor market conditions, so much market attention.