NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks mixed in early trading on Wall Street amid mixed news about the economy. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, but home construction fell in June to the slowest pace in nine months. Morgan Stanley shares rose after the investment bank reported its quarterly profit more than doubled. Mattel stock fell nearly 7 percent after the toy maker reported that its income plunged 61 percent in the second quarter.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits continues to decline. The Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment aid dipped by 3,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 302,000. The less volatile four-week average also fell by 3,000 to 309,000. That’s the lowest level since June 2007, about five months before the start of the recession.
REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft is cutting up to 18,000 jobs, about 14 percent of its staff, over the next year as it works on integrating the Nokia devices business it bought in April and cut down on management layers. Microsoft has been shifting its focus from traditional PC software to cloud computing and cloud-based products. Microsoft says it will give more details of its plans when it reports fiscal 2014 results on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The housing recovery is losing some steam. The Commerce Department says U.S. home construction fell 9.3 percent in June, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 893,000 homes. That’s the slowest pace since last September, and it follows a 7.3 percent drop in May, a decline even worse than initially reported. Applications for building permits, considered a good indicator of future activity, were also down in June, dropping 4.2 percent after a 5.1 percent decline in May.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairwoman of a Senate panel says General Motors should have fired its chief lawyer over the delayed recall of millions of small cars. Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill says chief counsel Michael Milliken should be fired after an internal report found GM attorneys signed settlements with the families of crash victims but didn’t tell engineers or top executives about mounting problems with ignition switches. Millken is among the GM executives appearing today before the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection.
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