NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are higher again this morning. With the Federal Reserve making it clear yesterday that it intends to keep interest rates at record lows for a while, the Dow is building on a new closing high. The blue-chip index has been as much as 84 points higher in the first hour of trading, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are also making solid gains.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people applying for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week. The Labor Department says first-time claims fell 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 280,000. The less volatile four-week average also fell, dropping to 299,500. The total number of people collecting unemployment benefits during the first week of September was 2.43 million, the fewest since May 2007.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home construction plunged 14.4 percent in August. The Commerce Department says construction fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 956,000 homes, reversing sharp gains made in July. Last month’s decrease primarily came from builders starting fewer apartment complexes.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Chevron has become the first energy company to meet a new set of voluntary shale gas drilling standards that aim to go beyond existing state laws in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. The Center for Sustainable Shale is a partnership between major energy companies, environmental groups and charitable foundations and is meant to work much like Underwriters Laboratories, which puts its familiar UL seal on electrical appliances. The certification process consisted of an independent review of 22 Chevron sites.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says the Great Recession showed that a large number of American families are “extraordinarily vulnerable” to financial setbacks because they have few assets to fall back on. A Fed survey finds that an unexpected expense of just $400 would force the majority of American families to borrow money, sell something or simply not pay. In 2013, he bottom fifth of U.S. households had net worth of just $6,400. Yellen says people should be encouraged to take small steps to boost their savings.
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