Thursday

Stocks rose slightly again today after an unexpectedly sharp fall in new weekly jobless claims and encouraging trade-deficit data. Unemployment claims unexpectedly fell by 27,000 to 451,000 in the week ended September 4. A separate report showed the U.S. trade deficit contracted sharply in July, posting its biggest drop in 17 months. Although these were both good things to hear, they were unable to drive any large gains today. I guess we better take what we can get though! DJIA +28.23 Nasdaq +7.33 S&P 500 +5.31.