Thursday’s session ended in red territory. Energy and financial shares led the decline. Brands dipped on less-than-stellar housing data and rising jobless claims. The Census Bureau said new home sales unexpectedly dropped 2.2% to 307,000 in December from the November revised figure of 314,000. Economists had anticipated a sales pace of 320,000 last month. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims increased by 21,000 to 377,000 last week. Additionally, new claims from two weeks ago were revised from 352,000 to 356,000. Elsewhere, new orders for durable goods jumped 3% in December, less than November’s 4.3% upswing. Discounting transportation, new orders rose 2.1%. On the horizon, earnings data from Chevron, Ford and Procter & Gamble and fourth-quarter GDP numbers are due for release tomorrow.
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