Nasdaq Leads Stocks Lower

Stocks declined on Thursday, although a late rally helped lift them well above the worst levels of the day.

BHP Billiton
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was rebuffed in its approach for rival Rio Tinto
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, a deal that could potentially be worth $100 billion. The news is lifting a number of mining stocks, including Anglo American
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(read more), Arcelor Mittal
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MT |
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(read more) and Alcoa
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(read more).

Ford
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reported a narrower Q3 loss than expected (read more).

After the bell on Wednesday, Cisco Systems
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reported a 37% surge in profit , but the stock is down more than 7% today (read more).

American International Group
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net income fell 27% in Q3 (read more).

Crude oil closed lower, the U.S. dollar continued to fall, helping gold rise.

The ECB and BoE left interest rates unchanged, at 4% and 5.75% respectively.

Market Snapshot

Dow

-33.73 13266.29

NASDAQ

-52.76 2696.00

S&P 500

-0.85 1474.77

  NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

2,190,427,220 3,454,142,528

Up Volume

1,121,003,560 729,131,829

Down Volume

1,056,275,560 2,701,821,460

Advances

1576 1368

Declines

1714 1612

New Highs

69 50

New Lows

527 433

Strongest/Weakest Industry Groups

Strongest Industries

% Change

Weakest Industries

% Change
Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing
+6.93%
Networking & Communication Devices
-8.77%
Steel & Iron
+5.79%
Internet Service Providers
-5.53%
Consumer Services
+4.13%
-4.57%


Economic
News

Initial Claims (11/03): Actual 317K, Consensus 325K