NEW YORK, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- U.s. stock indexes fell at the opening of trading Thursday, held back by a surprise decline in durable goods orders.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 32.43 points, or 0.24 percent, at 13,642.82, The Nasdaq composite was down 7.63 points, or 0.28 percent, at 2,766.93, and the Standard & Poor's 500 lost 3.09 points, or 0.20 percent, at 1,512.79.

Bonds gained. The benchmark 10-year note added 4/32, or $1.25 for every $1,000 invested, to yield 4.331 percent Thursday.

The dollar weakened. The euro was at $1.4314 from $1.4262 against the dollar late Wednesday. The dollar was at 114 yen from 114.22 yen late Wednesday.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.45 percent at 16,284.17.

Oil prices climb to more than $88

NEW YORK, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices continued an upward climb Thursday, gaining $1.29 and selling for $88.39 a barrel in early trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The rally was ignited Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Department reported supplies dropped by a more-than-expected 5.3 million barrels last week.

Other energy futures showed solid gains also. Heating oil was up 2.88 cents to $2.3708 a gallon and reformulated gas rose 4.25 cents to $2.19 a gallon.

Natural gas was up 0.07 cents at $7.04 per million British thermal units.

U.S. motorists were paying an average of $2.820 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline at the pump, a slight decrease from Wednesday’s $2.822, the AAA said.

U.S. durable goods demand down 1.7 percent

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. demand for durable goods items unexpectedly fell 1.7 percent in September, the U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday.

The report said orders totaled a seasonally adjusted $214.53 billion, with demand pulled lower by fewer orders for military suppliers.

Defense-related capital goods orders plunged 38.7 percent. Excepting defense goods, overall new orders increased by 0.7 percent, The Wall Street Journal said,

Meanwhile, the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell slightly last week but remained at elevated levels consistent with slackening labor markets.

Jobless claims fell 8,000 to 331,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ended Oct. 20, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Economy worries hold down mortgage rates

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Mortgage rates were held lower by worries over a slowing economy and a continuing housing slump, the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey said Thursday.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.33 percent with an average 0.5 point this week, down from last week’s 6.40 percent.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 5.99 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week’s 6.08 percent.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 6.03 percent this week, with an average 0.5 point, down from last week’s 6.11 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.66 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 5.76 percent.