Thursday’s session closed in positive territory. 3M, American Express, Caterpillar, and Home Depot led the Dow’s ascent. Cisco surged in the wake of its encouraging quarterly data, which was released Wednesday after the closing bell. Meanwhile, housing starts were down in July. The Commerce Department said starts hit an annual rate of 746,000, following the June estimate of 754,000. Economists had expected a jump in starts to an annual rate of 757,000. Elsewhere, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims increased by 2,000 to 366,000 last week. Additionally, the prior week’s claims were upwardly revised to 364,000. On a final note: crude oil futures added $1.27 today to settle at $95.60 a barrel.
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