US stocks drift to mixed close in quiet pre-holiday trade

US stocks drift to mixed close in quiet pre-holiday trade

NEW YORK

Stocks closed slightly lower in extremely light trading Thursday as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of Christmas. The price of crude oil continued to recover.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 50.44 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,552.17. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 3.30 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,060.99, and the Nasdaq composite rose 2.56 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 5,048.49.

Christmas Eve is almost always the quietest trading day of the year, and this year was no exception. Roughly 1.4 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, a third of what’s typical and the lowest volume since Christmas Eve 2013.

U.S. and European markets will remain closed today in observance of Christmas.

Though stocks were slightly lower Thursday, U.S. markets had a solid week. The S&P 500 rose nearly 3 percent and is back into positive territory for the year, albeit barely. It is not uncommon for stocks to rally at the end of the year, as investors close their books and reposition themselves for the next year.

US applications for jobless aid dropped last week

WASHINGTON

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, reflecting a job market that continues to look persistently healthy.

The Labor Department said applications for jobless aid declined 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000. The less volatile 4-week average ticked up slightly to 272,500.

Claims have been below the critical threshold of 300,000 for the past 42 weeks, a level that generally points to monthly job gains in excess of 200,000.

Applications for benefits are often a proxy for layoffs, so the decline indicates that employers are holding onto their workers and potentially looking to expand their payrolls.

The unemployment rate last month remained at a seven-year low of 5 percent. Employers have been adding a healthy 210,000 jobs a month so far this year.

Mitsubishi pushes back delivery of jet

TOKYO

Mitsubishi, a maker of the World War II-era Zero fighter, said Thursday it plans to postpone by one year its deliveries of its new regional jet, to mid-2018.

The jet recently made a successful maiden flight that “confirmed the basic characteristics to be satisfactory,” the company said in a statement. But it said several issues need to be addressed, so the jet’s development schedule was revised.

The company did not provide details about those issues.

Industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi aims to reclaim Japan’s one-time status as an aviation power some 70 years after the country suspended making planes after its defeat in World War II.

Wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Alcoa Inc., .1210.12—.07

Aqua America, .71 29.83 .43

Avalon Holdings,2.05.09

Cortland Bancorp, .2415.50.00

Farmers Nat., .128.13 .08

First Energy, 1.44 32.60.13

Fifth/Third, .5220.52.06

FirstMerit Corp., .6819.02 .10

First Niles Financial, .209.00.00

FNB Corp., .4813.58.06

General Motors, 1.4434.60—.18

General Electric, .9230.83—.12

Huntington Bank, .28 11.21.06

iHeartMedia Inc.,1.05 .00

JP Morgan Chase, 1.7666.60—.13

Key Corp, .3013.33—.01

LaFarge, .3417.57 .00

Macy’s, 1.44 35.48—.58

Parker Hannifin, 2.52 99.85.37

PNC, 2.0496.24.07

Simon Prop. Grp., 6.40194.35.32

Stoneridge 15.32 .81

Talmer Bank, .04 17.73.15

United Comm. Fin., .10 6.12.00

Selected prices from Thursday’s 1 p.m. close.