Here is a look at some of Thursday's top business stories:
Unemployment claims fall for last week
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- The number of Americans who filed for weekly jobless claims fell last week to its lowest level in five months, indicating a possible slowdown in layoffs and a turnaround for the lagging American economy.
According to the U.S. Labor Department, state unemployment offices received 384,000 new applications for jobless benefits for the week ending Dec 15. This represents a drop of 11,000 from the 395,000 of newly unemployed the previous week and is the lowest level since the week ending July 28.
Employment analyst had been expecting claims of 444,000 for last week.
The Labor Department said that the 4-week moving average was 438,000, a decrease of 12,250 from the previous week's revised average of 450,250.
The latest weekly report comes amid the stalling of a possible economic stimulus bill on Capitol Hill, with any potential measures held up by political disagreements between Democrats and Republicans on the amount of unemployment benefits versus the size of possible corporate tax cuts.
Various economic stimulus measures have been proposes since shortly after the devastating Sept 11 terror attacks, which in addition to killing over 3,000 persons, created a destructive broad economic ripple effect. For an already slowed U.S. economy, the attacks plunged the country into an even deeper downturn, with consumer confidence tanking, airlines shutting down large portions of their business, manufacturers scaling back and layoffs jumping.
For November, the Labor Department reported that the U.S. unemployment level jumped from 5.4 for the previous month to 5.7 percent.
Since March of this year, when U.S. employment reached a peak, 1.2 million workers have been laid off.
GM asks mandate for daytime running lights
DETROIT, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- General Motors Corp. on Thursday asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require automakers to equip all new cars, trucks and buses sold in the United States with daytime running lamps.
The world's largest automaker filed a petition at NHTSA offices in Washington asking the federal government to mandate daytime running lights on all passenger vehicles.
A government study released last year found daytime running lights reduced the number of pedestrians hit by single vehicles by 28 percent. Daytime running lights that automatically illuminate when a vehicle is started are already standard equipment on Toyota, Volkswagen and BMW vehicles and are mandatory on vehicles sold in Canada and several countries in Europe.
"We have overwhelming evidence that daytime running lamps reduce crashes, thereby potentially saving lives and preventing thousands of injuries," said Robert Lange, GM's executive director of structure and safety integration. "DRLs are clearly one of the most cost-effective crash-avoidance features on the road today."
An independent study last year said daytime, multivehicle, non-rear-end collisions involving GM vehicles had fallen more than 5 percent since General Motors began equipping cars with daytime running lamps six years ago.
Daytime running lights have reduced daytime vehicle-pedestrian crashes in urban areas by about 9 percent, Lange said.
"We believe every new light-duty (vehicle) sold in the U.S. should be equipped with daytime running lamps so that these very apparent and documented safety benefits will be extended to everyone."
More than 25 million GM light-duty vehicles have been sold equipped with daytime running lights since 1995.
Median Calif. home prices up 11.2 percent
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Sales of existing homes in California in November fell 12.4 percent and the medium home price rose 11.2 percent compared to the same period a year ago, a real estate information service reported Thursday.
"Sales in November 2000 were the fifth highest level on record, so it's no surprise a year-to-year decline," Robert Bailey, president of the California Association of Realtors.
"In the San Francisco Bay Area, sales continue to be impacted by the overall weakness in the region's economy," he said. "By comparison, Southern California posted moderate sales decline."
Bailey said the median price for a home reached $278,740, a new record for California.
Closed escrow sales of existing, single family detached homes in California totaled 493,870 in November at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, according to the report. Statewide home resale activity decreased 12.4 percent from 563,800 sales pace recorded in November 2000. Resale activity posted a decrease of 0.2 percent in November compared to October.
