NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks gave ground after two days of gains, as investors brace for Friday's November unemployment report.
Stock Indexes at Close Thursday
Declining issues topped advancers by a nearly 3-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange.
Volume on the NYSE came to 5.6 billion shares. Nasdaq stock market volume was 2 billion shares. Analysts look for payrolls to decline by about 320,000 jobs in Friday morning's report, with the unemployment rate rising to 6.8 percent.
Big 3 Automakers Ask Congress For Help
The American automotive industry is one step closer to getting the federal bailout it says is needed to stay in business.
Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd has given his thumbs-up to helping out the Big Three automakers. The top executives for General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler are asking for a combined $34 billion in loans.
They returned to Capitol Hill Thursday morning to ask for the money.This time, they came by car, after lawmakers criticized them for traveling to Washington by private jet to ask for taxpayer money.
Meanwhile, weakness prevails in early trading after many retailers reported November sales declines. There has also been news of job cutting from the likes of AT&T and DuPont.
Walmart was an exception to most companies' monthly numbers, with a better-than-expected 3.4 percent increase in same-store sales.
AT&T said it is cutting 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its work force. Chemicals maker DuPont said it will cut 2,500 jobs.
Merck said its profit will fall in 2009 and below forecasts because of restructuring costs, generic drug competition and slower sales of key products.
Economic Reports Downbeat
Among a flurry of downbeat economic reports Thursday is one from the Commerce Department, which reports factory orders plunged more than 5 percent in October. That was worse than economists had expected. Meanwhile, November retail sales reports are looking weak.
The Labor Department said new claims for jobless benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 509,000. The November jobs report is scheduled for release Friday morning.
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