U.S. markets slide early Thursday
NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. markets turned lower Thursday despite a better-than-expected report on the second quarter gross domestic product.
Economists expected the revised report to show a GDP contraction of 1.5 percent. The Commerce Department, however, stuck with the previous estimate of a 1 percent contraction.
In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 66.11 points, 0.7 percent, to 9,476.41. The S&P 500 dropped 0.95 percent, 9.81 points, to 1,018.31. The Nasdaq index shed 25.48 points, 1.26 percent, to 1,998.92.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury fell 4/32 to yield 3.448 percent.
The euro fell to $1.423 compared to Wednesday's $1.4255. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 93.56 yen from Wednesday's 94.17 percent.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index lost 1.56 percent, 165.74 points, to 10,473.97.
Solar panel prices fall sharply
NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Market analysts at investment bank Piper Jaffray said the cost of solar panels has plunged in the past year due to increased supply and decreased demand.
The price of a critical ingredient for many solar panels, polysilicon, has dropped as more producers have entered the market.
"A ton of production, mostly Chinese, has come online," Chris Whitman, president of U.S. Solar Finance told The New York Times.
In addition, demand has fallen, especially in Europe, due to the recession.
Spain, where unemployment has soared, sharply reduced its subsidy for solar panel installations, due to budget restraints.
U.S. states are also cutting rebate offers for solar installations, the Times aid.
Falling prices are a mixed blessing for U.S. panel producers, persuading some to put solar panels on their roofs, but lowering company profits.
Still, "it's important that these costs and prices do come down," said Mike Ahearn, chief executive officer of First Solar, a panel production company in Tempe, Ariz.
The consultant firm SunCentric said the reduced prices could help shrink the average time for solar panels to reach the point of paying for themselves from 22 years to 16 years in locations that have high electric costs.
Israeli-Palestinian trade growing
JERUSALEM, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Israeli-Palestinian trade grew steadily last year despite the global economic crisis, hitting $5 billion, Israeli tax authority officials said.
The figures were presented by the Customs Administration of Israel's tax authority at a conference for Palestinian businessmen at the Allenby Bridge international border crossing terminal between Israel and Jordan, Globes, an Israeli business news Web site reported Wednesday.
The figures include about $3.6 billion in domestic trade and $1.1 billion in Palestinian imports and exports through Israeli ports, the Web site said.
The Allenby Bridge terminal handles more than 1.5 million people each year and about $125 million worth of cargo, the site said.
Forty Palestinian businessmen attended the conference together with officials from Israel's Foreign Ministry, Airports Authority and the Defense Ministry's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Web site said.
Jobless claims drop in week
WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- First-time claims for U.S. unemployment insurance fell by 10,000 during the week ending Aug. 22, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The 570,000 initial benefits claims contributed to a four-week rolling average of 566,250, which was an increase of 4,750 from the previous rolling average of 565,750.
For the second consecutive week, the figure fell short of expectations. An expected drop a week ago, turned out to be an increase in claims. This week, there were 5,000 more claims than economist forecast.
The U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.4 percent.
The biggest increases in claims for the week ending Aug. 15 were reported by Michigan with 4,068 additional claims; Pennsylvania, which added 1,193; and Florida, which added 1,148, the report said.
State-by-state statistics lag a week behind the national report.
For the week ending Aug. 15, the biggest decreases were reported by California, with a decline of 6,286 claims; Tennessee, declining by 2,999, and Texas with 2,557 fewer claims than the week of Aug. 8.
