Stocks Retreat after Jobless Claims Rise

U.S. stocks retreated at the open on Thursday after jobless claims rose to their highest level
since late March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately lost 16.44 points, or 0.10%, to
16,151.53. The S&P 500 fell 4.28 points, or 0.24%, to 1,806.37. The Nasdaq Composite retreated
9.12 points, or 0.22%, to 4,060.94.

New applications for U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest level since late
March, but the increase probably reflects typical holiday-season ups and downs instead of any
discernible change in a labor market that’s shown clear improvement lately. Initial claims climbed
by 10,000 to 379,000 in the week ended Dec. 14, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Facebook Inc founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will sell 41.4 million shares worth about $2.3
billion to pay a tax bill, as part of an offering by the social network of 70 million Class A
common shares.

BlackBerry Ltd. (BB)’s new chief executive officer, rejecting calls to exit the hardware business,
gets a chance this week to convince investors he has the time and vision to revive a unit that’s
dragging sales back down to 2007 levels.

McDonald’s Corp.’s Japan business plans to close 74 outlets in the country as the fast-food
operator cut its full-year profit forecast by more than half in its second-largest market.

Rite Aid Corp.’s fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 16% on continued sales growth at the drugstore
operator. For the fiscal year, the company cut its per-share earnings estimate to 17 cents to 23
cents, on revenue of $25.3 billion and $25.425 billion and same-store sales growth of 0.35% to
0.85%.