Stocks Slumped at Open

U.S. stocks opend sharply lower on Thursday as investors weighed the implications of robust economic growth and signs of rising wage inflation on Federal Reserve policy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately dropped 109.66 points, or 0.65%, to 16,770.70. The S&P 500 shed 13.23 points, or 0.67%, to 1,956.84. The Nasdaq Composite
lost 35.35 points, or 0.79%, to 4,427.55.

Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week, but they remain close to pre-recession averages. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for jobless aid increased 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 302,000.

Argentina defaulted on its sovereign debt for the second time in 12 years, the holdout bond holders were left empty handed, and Federal Judge Thomas Griesa’s strategy to force Argentine to negotiate a settlement with the so-called venture funds failed.

Bank of America Corp. has been ordered to pay a $1.3 billion fine as its penalty for selling thousands of bad loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bloomberg reported.

Samsung Electronics Co. reported a bigger-than-expected fall in second quarter profit on Thursday. Its net income for the April-June quarter dropped 20 per cent to 6.3 trillion won ($6.1 billion) from 7.8 trillion won a year earlier.Sales fell 9 per cent to 52.4 trillion won while operating profit sank 25 per cent to 7.2 trillion won.