Developing: Pakistani Plane Escorted by UK Fighter Jets — 2 Men Arrested

Doc Thompson’s 24-hour radio marathon, ‘#24forok,’ continues until 9 am ET — Listen Live!

Business

Morning Market Roundup: Unemployment Apps Up, Slow Sales For Retailers, Google Plans Job Cuts

Oct. 4, 2012 9:18am Becket Adams

Here’s what’s important in the business world this morning:

Unemployment: The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 367,000, according to a new report from the Labor Department.

The report said Thursday that applications increased last week by 4,000 from the previous week’s level of 363,000. The previous week was revised higher from an initial reading of 359,000.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, was unchanged last week at 375,000. Also, the feds will report Friday on September hiring and unemployment.

There are only two jobs reports left before Election Day, so the September figures could have a major impact on the presidential campaign.

Retail: Monthly sales reports from major retailers are showing that Americans slowed down their spending in September.

As retailers announced their monthly results Thursday, Limited Brands Inc. and Costco Corp. reported sales gains that beat analysts’ expectations. Target Corp. and Macy’s Inc. posted sales increases that were below what analysts had projected.

The figures are based on revenue at stores opened at least a year and are considered a key indicator of a retailer’s health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

Google: Google is expanding its plan to cut jobs from its Motorola Mobility unit outside the U.S. and will take $390 million for severance costs and other charges related to the layoffs.

The online search leader said in August that it would cut about 4,000 jobs at Motorola, planning to close or consolidate about one-third of Motorola’s 90 locations. It said then that two-thirds of the job cuts, about 7 percent of Google’s overall work force, would take place outside the U.S.

Google Inc. bought Motorola Mobility, which makes cellphones and cable set-top boxes, in late May for $12.4 billion. It was its largest acquisition ever, broadening the company’s business from its roots in Internet search and other online services to manufacturing equipment.

About $300 million of the charges announced Thursday are related to severance payments and will be taken in the third quarter, according to a filing by Google with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Mountain View, Calif., company also expects to pay about $90 million in charges for the cost of closing facilities through 2013. About $40 million of those charges are expected to be taken in the third quarter.

Motorola may make even more cuts as it evaluates its plans, which could result in more charges, Google said.

U.S. Futures: Stock futures are rising despite the weekly report on jobless claims and reports on retail sales from major U.S. store chains.

Dow futures are up 46 points to 13,472. The broader S&P 500 futures are up 6 points to 1,451. Nasdaq futures are up 13 points to 2,821.

Stocks across Europe were marginally higher ahead of ECB head Mario Draghi’s news conference, which is being held in Slovenia, one of the euro’s 17 countries.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Benghazi, IRS, AP...What's next? Only TheBlaze TV offers the truth from Glenn Beck, Andrew Wilkow, and Real News from TheBlaze. Get instant access and a free trial here.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (10)

tomacz
Posted on October 4, 2012 at 2:56pm
700 campbell soup workers in california get notice they’re shuttin the doors,co is moving to
guess where????
t’yexiss,the land of opportunity & lower taxes
kmart layoffs still in the works ( k’s x ????)
republic of kaliforniastan,socialist government workers paradise
all this hope n change
ahm own yack

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Master.Debater
Posted on October 4, 2012 at 12:18pm
I saw this headline and wondered what an Unemployment “App” was. Then I realized The Blaze didn’t proofread their headline.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
PlanetReality
Posted on October 4, 2012 at 12:12pm
COME ON AMERICA!!! How much more?????? VOTE THIS CLOWN OUT!! WE DESERVE BETTER!!!!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
woodyee
Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:19am
President Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana purchase for 233 million dollars. Obama spent more than that while you were reading this.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
grams09
Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:13am
Both my husband’s and daughter’s companies have laid off people this past month. The economy is not doing better. (They work in the healthcare and education fields).

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
woodyee
Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:07am
“U.S. Futures: Stock futures are rising despite the weekly report on jobless claims and reports on retail sales from major U.S. store chains.”

It’s beyond my ability to reason this out – I just don’t get it. It’s not working like the stock market i grew up with. Based on economic performances of the last 4 years, we should just now, be barely beginning to creep up from a hard slide in 2009-2010, if not 2010-2011. The Dow at 13k+ and the S+P at 1400 in this economic climate…I just don’t get it.

Is this the result of Bernanke buying down the debt, kicking economic disaster football into next year?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Cavallo
Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:33am
Either the stock market isn’t seeing the same economic data as the rest of the universe, or the rise in stocks are quite a few investors hippity hoppity hoping that they can make a few more quick dollars before this whole madhouse collapses. Does anyone have any logical reason to believe that severe repercussions of market correction are not on the horizon? You can’t artificially twist things forever before it blows up in your face and kills everyone around you.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- thesource
  Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:48am
  Corporate earnings are pretty good overall. QE3 will bring more money in the market. We won’t have a meltdown, don’t know why you think that. US is doing great compared to Europe. US banks doing well. Don’t listen to news, news tends to be always negative. There is a lot of positive but it doesn’t sell.
  
  Report this comment
- BlackCrow
  Posted on October 4, 2012 at 10:04am
  Where do you think all that money the Federal Reserve is creating is going? The big investment banks are taking that money and buying equities (Stocks) in an attempt to stave off another stock market collapse. As a result when the correction comes instead of 20% it is going to be closer to 50% if not more.
  
  Report this comment
EqualJustice
Posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:32am
The Obama administration has been hiring GOVERNMENT employees at an ALARMING rate the past few months! We need PRIVATE sector jobs to get ourselves out of this fiscal mess, not more government spending on workers NOT NEEDED! It may help his “employment numbers” but it sure doesn’t help reduce our deficit!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.