The U.S. stocks opened slightly higher with volatility on Thursday as the favorable situation in Europe. But after the U.S. Labor Department reported the higher than expected unemployment data and the unexpected decline in the new house sales, the U.S. stocks turned down. As of 16:00 EST on January 26th, the Dow Jones industrial average index fell 22.33 points to close at 12,734.63 points, down 0.18%; the Nasdaq composite index declined 13.03 points to end at 2805.28 points, down 0.46% ; the Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 7.6 points to finish at 1318.45 points, down 0.57%.
U.S. economic data
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced the December new house sale unexpectedly fell by 2.2% to 307,000 (seasonally adjusted annualized value), lower than the economists’ average forecast of 325 000 and also below the November’s 315,000.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that as of January 21 the number of the initial jobless claims was 377,000, slightly higher than economists’ average estimate of 373,000.
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced the 2011 December durable goods orders growth reached 3%, higher than the economists’ average expected growth of 2.0%.
Macro-economy
Italy successfully auctioned five billion euros (64.7 billion) treasury bonds, of which 4.5 billion euros year treasury note’s interest rate was 3.763%, dropping significantly than the previous month same period figure of 4.85% and indicating the investor confidence in the country is strengthening.
Data showed that the British 2011 fourth-quarter GDP fell 0.2%, lower than the analysts prediction, which also clearly reflected the current bleak economic situation, while the 2011 third quarter GDP growth was 0.6%.
The International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday that the sanctions on the Iran’s oil export by the United States and the European Union will lead to an increase of up to 30% in the international crude oil price.
U.S. stocks watch