Stocks move slowly in early trading
NEW YORK, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Wall Street activity slowed in early trading Thursday as investors weighed the latest unemployment news.
The Dow Jones industrial average opened lower, began a turnaround that took it up 29 points but then started to sink again in late-morning trading, moving down 5.25 or 0.06 percent to 9,463.95 while the Nasdaq composite index was flat, up 0.37 or 0.02 percent to 1,832.62. The S&P 500-stock index was also flat, off 0.16 or 0.02 percent to 1,018.06.
Overseas, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rose 232.29 points, or 2.24 percent, to 10,593.53, led by banks, brokerages and steelmakers.
In economic news, the Labor Department said that the number of U.S. workers filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits rebounded last week as many state unemployment offices had been shut down by Hurricane Isabel reopened for business, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Initial claims reached the 400,000 level for a second straight week, rising by 13,000 to 399,000 in the week that ended Sept. 27. Economists say numbers below the 400,000-threshold signify a stabilizing labor market.
Senate bill seen as corporate windfall
WASINGTON, D.C., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A Senate committee has approved a bill that reportedly could mean a huge windfall for U.S. corporations that deferred years of taxes on overseas profits.
The Senate Finance Committee, in a move aimed at bringing more investment, approved a proposal for a one-time tax holiday to companies that have made as much as $400 billion in foreign profits on which no U.S. taxes were paid, the New York Times reported Thursday.
American companies usually can defer paying taxes on foreign profits as long as they keep the money outside the United States. The Senate bill would let them bring those profits back and pay a tax rate of 5.25 percent.
Supporters say the six-month tax holiday could lure as much as $300 billion back into the United States, ostensibly helping create jobs, but many experts, including top tax officials in the Bush administration, say it would validate the strategies of companies that spent years sheltering the overseas profits.
Summer car sales pace cools off
DETROIT, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. auto sales have cooled off from their summer fling but industry executives and dealers are optimistic about the future, it was reported Thursday.
Overall, new-car and light-truck sales totaled 1,304,066 vehicles for September, up 6.5 percent from September of last year, the Wall Street reported, quoting the research firm Autodata Corp. September sales translated to a seasonally adjusted, annualized selling rate of 16.7 million vehicles.
September marked a slowdown from the summer's discount-driven 19 million pace, however. Still, U.S. sales executives and dealers said car demand remained strong, with generous incentives helping to offset recent downbeat signals on consumer confidence and employment.
As gas prices eased from summer highs, consumers snapped up sport-utility vehicles, pickups and other light trucks, which captured 54 percent of the total market, up from 51 a year ago.
In Detroit, General Motors said sales increased 17.6 percent to 360,407 while Ford sales grew 5.2 percent to 294,311. Chrysler sales tumbled 11 percent.
Report says hack attacks on the rise
LONDON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Virus and hacker attacks are on the rise this year, according to security experts.
Such internet invasions have increased 20 percent in the first six months of the year, according to the BBC.
A survey by the anti-virus firm Symantec indicates hackers are finding security holes quicker and are discovering new ways to spread viruses as well as combinations of malicious code and software holes to cripple systems.
The report suggests the speed and use of so-called "blended threats" that combine malicious code while exploiting software holes is one of the biggest threats facing businesses this year.
The Slammer worm at the start of 2003 hit global systems in less than a few hours. And the Blaster worm in the summer infected about 2,500 computers an hour, costing companies billions in damage and lost business.
