Major U.S. stock indexes slumped Thursday in early afternoon trading on news of lackluster home sales and a gain in first time unemployment claims.

Existing home sales fell by 2.6 percent in the month of June, the National Association of Realtors said. Unemployment claims rose by 34,000 in the week ending July 19, the government said.

In addition, Ford Motor Co. posted second-quarter report showed losses of $8.67 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 147.05 or 1.26 percent. The Nasdaq composite index was off 22.18 or 0.95 percent to 2,303.70. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 14.90 points, or 1.16 percent, to 1,267.29.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 15/32 to yield 4.05 percent.

The euro traded at $1.5652 Thursday, compared to $1.569 at close Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was at 107.61 from 107.86 Wednesday.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 Index closed 2.18 percent higher at 13,603.31, up 290.38 points.

The FTSE 100 index in London fell 88.80 points to 5,361.10, down 1.63 percent.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International


Publication date: 24 July 2008   

Source: UPI-1-20080724-12594600-bc-us-markets-1stld.xml

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