Stocks open lower after report on jobless claims

Wall Street is giving back some of its recent gains as investors absorb lackluster reports on jobless claims and orders for big-ticket items.

The stock market is coming off of three sessions of gains, so some retrenchment is to be expected, especially with many traders about to take a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Among the reports, the Labor Department says initial requests for unemployment benefits fell by more than expected but remain at recessionary levels.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department says orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods plunged in October by the largest amount in two years as the economy weakened.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 142, or 1.68 percent, at the 8,337 level. Broader indexes are also falling.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)