U.S. Market
U.S. stocks continued a multiday slide in early trading Thursday. After market close, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said in a speech that the central bank is likely begin raising short-term interest rates later this year.
Sales of newly built single-family homes rose 5.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 552,000, the Commerce Department said Thursday. This is highest level since the recession ended.
The Commerce Department also reported Thursday that new orders for durable goods, which are products designed to last at least three years, fell a seasonally adjusted 2.0% in August from a month earlier.
New applications for U.S. unemployment benefits inched up by 3,000 to 267,000 in the seven days ended Sept. 19, the Labor Department said.
The Dow was down 0.5%, and the S&P 500 was off 0.3%, and the Nasdaq was down 0.4%.
Stocks on the Move
Shares of Caterpillar Inc (CAT) fell 6.3% after the construction equipment manufacturer announced it may cut as many as 10,000 jobs as part of a plan to reduce annual costs by $1.5 billion, as a result of weakness in the energy and mining markets. The company also lowered its revenue outlook for 2015 by $1 billion, to $48 billion from $49 billion, and said it sees sales in 2016 sales falling 5%. Morningstar equity analyst Kwame Webb said in a note that we are "reiterating our wide moat rating, but near-term end-market weakness spurs us to reduce our fair value estimate."
Foreign Markets
European markets were also lower. The FTSE 100 was down 1.2%, and Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC were also down 1.9%.
Asian shares were mixed. The Shanghai Composite was up 0.9%, the Nikkei 225 fell 2.8%, and the Hang Seng was down 1.0%.