The major stock indexes hit fresh lows for the year Thursday as continued improvement in the labor market and a government report on business inventories fueled concern economic growth is slowing.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 125.18, or 1.2 percent, to close at 10,278.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 27.66, or 1.4 percent, to 1,946.71. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 11.74, or 1 percent, to 1,162.05.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits for the first time fell by 10,000 last week, a second straight week of improvement, according to the Labor Department. The weekly data was in line with expectations.
And U.S. business inventories rose 0.5 percent in February, matching analyst expectations, while sales posted their largest drop in nearly two years, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Business sales fell 0.4 percent in February to $980.82 billion, the biggest monthly decrease since a 1.6 percent fall in April 2003.
Among local companies, shares of PC Mall Inc. gained 4.4 percent to $5.19 after the Torrance-based technology direct marketer’s stock was raised to “sell” from “strong sell” by analyst Ivan Feinseth at Matrix USA.
On the down side, IHOP Corp. lost 8 percent to close at $44.54 after the company’s CEO Julia A. Stewart, said Thursday that she was “somewhat disappointed” with the company’s first quarter performance. While the Glendale-based owner and franchiser of International House of Pancakes restaurants announced that its same-store sales increased 0.61 percent for the quarter, Stewart said the company could have done better.
And shares of Intermix Media Inc. plunged 9.9 percent to $6.80 after the company tried to correct what it called “certain inaccuracies and misstatements of facts” that were reported in recent media stories about the Internet Bureau of the New York Attorney General’s office investigating Intermix’s Web site toolbar and redirect application. Intermix said its technology does not collect information about a user’s Web surfing habits or collect or transmit any personal information about them. “They simply do not ‘spy’ on consumer Internet activity,” the L.A.-based company said in a press release.
