Stocks open lower
Stocks opened lower across the board, despite news of an unexpected drop in weekly jobless claims.
At 9:59 a.m. ET the Russell 2000 was down 4.32 points, or 0.53 percent, to 815.88. Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 27.55 points, or 0.20 percent, to 13,459.98.
The number of American workers filing jobless claims in the week ended March 12 fell 5,000 to 293,000, the Labor Department said before the opening bell. That’s the fifth straight week of declines and a sign of string job growth. Economists were expecting jobless claims to increase 18,000 to 315,000.
The following are the most actively traded companies in Thursday's trading among those with market capitalizations under $500 million:
| Price at | % | ||||||
| 9:53 et | Change | Change | Volume | Year High | Year Low |
