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U.S. stocks tick down amid jobs data

Xinhua, November 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks traded lower in the morning session Thursday, as Wall Street digested economic reports amid speeches from Federal Reserve officials.

By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 148.25 points, or 0.84 percent, to 17,553.97. The S&P 500 lost 13.94 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,061.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 18.64 points, or 0.37 percent, to 5,048.38.

In the week ending Nov. 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 276,000, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised level, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 267,750, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 262,750, but still held to the lowest level in years.

In a separate report, the department reported that the number of job openings was little changed at 5.5 million on the last business day of September. The job openings rate for September was 3.7 percent.

Investors also kept a close eye on comments from several Fed officials for more hints on the timing of an interest rate hike.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said Thursday that the Fed is close to reaching its employment mandate, but added he is less confident about reaching the inflation goal within a reasonable time frame.

Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said he doesn't think that recent low inflation "implies a more permanent departure from our target."

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the Fed is quite close to normal with an unemployment rate of 5 percent and inflation only slightly below target.

Many analysts believed that the Fed will raise interest rates next month as the U.S. jobs report for October came out much stronger than expected.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks reversed early gains to close mildly lower, as Wall Street continued to weigh the likelihood of a year-end rate hike by the U.S. central bank. Endit