Stocks Opened Lower after Jobless Claims Data

U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Thursday, despite better-than-expected weekly jobless claims that pointed to a spring revival in the
labor market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 1.95 points, or 0.01%, at 16,435.23. The S&P 500 was off 0.47 points, or 003%,
at 1,871.71. The Nasdaq Composite was down 16.00 points, or 0.38%, at 4,167.90.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to the lowest level in almost seven years,
which could bolster views of an acceleration in job growth after a cold winter dampened hiring. Initial claims for state unemployment
benefits dropped 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 300,000 for the week ended April 5, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

The prices paid for imported goods increased 0.6% in March, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. The rise in import prices in
February was unchanged at 0.9%. Import prices in the first quarter rose by 1.9%, the biggest three-month gain since October 2012.

Family Dollar reported $2.7 billion in second quarter fiscal 2014 revenue, a figure that falls roughly in line with what the Street was
expecting but marks a 6% decline over the same period last year. Second quarter net income declined from $140 million in the second
quarter of 2013 to $90.9 million, resulting in earnings of 80 cents per share, 40 cents lower than the prior-year quarter.

OPEC’s oil output tumbled to its lowest level this year in March, the cartel of some of the world’s biggest oil producers said Thursday.
Production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies more than a third of the oil consumed globally each
day, fell by over half a million barrels a day last month to 29.6 million barrels a day, the group said in its monthly oil market report.