First, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 16,242.38, -37.51, (-0.23%)
- S&P 500: 1,935.47, -3.29, (-0.17%)
- Nasdaq: 4,740.87, -11.87, (-0.25%)
And now, the top stories on Thursday:
- Caterpillar plans to cut 10,000 jobs as part of a restructuring amid "a convergence of challenging marketplace conditions in key regions and industry sectors - namely in mining and energy." The company said its sales would decline for a third straight year in 2015 to $48 billion. The industrial giant is considered a bellwether for China's and the global economy, and so this outlook is a warning sign. The stock fell by up to 7%w.
- Citi cut its price target on Twitter shares and said the stock is "High Risk". Analyst Mark May also lowered his 2016 ad revenue forecast by 4.7%, from $3.010 billion to $2.868 billion. Twitter is in a prolonged search for a new CEO, and it has seen the growth of active users slow down. The stock fell by up to 5%.
- Remember Cynk Technology? Philip Kueber, a Canadian man, has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he conspired to commit securities fraud and money laundering. He had been charged in connection with a $300 million penny-stock manipulation scheme that took the share price of Cynk up 24,000% last year, and gave it a market value of more than $6 billion.
- In economic data, new home sales rose 5.7% at an annualized pace of 552,000 last month, according to the Census Bureau. That was the fastest pace since early 2008. Durable goods orders fell less than expected in August, down 2%, while "core" durable goods orders fell 0.2%.
- And, initial jobless claims rose less than expected to 267,000 last week, up 3,000. The four-week moving average fell 750 to 271,750 according to the labor department, which reported no special factors.
DON'T MISS: This Alan Greenspan speech from 2004 holds the key to understanding how the Fed thinks about the world »