US stocks closed lower overnight with the S&P 500 falling to its third-straight weekly loss, as unemployment news put a dampener on investor hopes for an economic recovery.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 223 points to 8,281. The S&P500 Index lost 27 points to 896 and the NASDAQ closed 49 points weaker to 1,797. In economic news, it doesn’t usually happen but the latest payrolls report out shone weekly employment claims, with figures showing employers cut 467,000 jobs from their payrolls in June, after axing 322,000 jobs in May. The unemployment rate edged higher to 9.5% from 9.4%.
While the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to 614,000 last week from 630,000 the previous week.
And in other economic news, the Commerce Department reported that factory orders rose 1.2% in May compared to a 0.5% increase in April.
In company news: Exelon (NYSE:EXC) shares fell 4.25% to $49.37. The utility services company has sweetened its hostile takeover offer for rival power generator NRG Energy. The all-stock offer is $8 billion versus the previous offer of $7 billion.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shares lost 1.91% to $55.98. The healthcare giant will take an 18% equity stake in biotech company Elan in exchange for a $1 billion investment and will buy most rights to the Irish company's portfolio of drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease.
Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL) shares rose 6.18% to $9.79 overnight after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "equal-weight" as part of a broader call on the airline sector.
And shares of Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) fell 2.18% to $28.70 despite news that sales had increased in June as shoppers filled in more prescriptions but bought less discretionary summer merchandise. Walgreen posted same-store sales growth of 3.4%.
Checking the NASDAQ Top 100.The best performer was Lam Research added 2.28% to $26.95. Linear Technology and Symantec also posted good gains.
On the downside, Illumina fell by 12.27% to $33.46. Liberty Media and News Corp also closed weaker.
