North American stocks fell at the start of trading on Thursday, following an unexpected rise in last week's U.S. initial jobless claims.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 19 points or 0.2 per cent, to 11,077. The broader S&P 500 fell 3 points or 0.3 per cent, to 1175. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index fell 17 points or 0.1 per cent, to 12,657.
The U.S. Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims for the period ended last week rose to 462,000, up 13,000 from the previous week. Economists had been expected a relatively unchanged reading after consecutive weeks of modest declines.
U.S. financials were hit especially hard, just a day after JPMorgan Chase & Co. topped expectations with its third quarter earnings. The bank fell 3.3 per cent, while Bank of America Corp. fell 4.8 per cent.
Defensive stocks rose modestly, suggesting that investors were taking a more cautious view on the economy. Verizon Communications Inc. rose 0.7 per cent and Kraft Foods Inc. rose 0.4 per cent.
Meanwhile, Yahoo Inc. surged 6.8 per cent on a report that AOL Inc. - backed by private equity firms - is considering making a bid for the struggling Internet search engine company.
Within the Canadian market, gold and energy stocks declined. Barrick Gold Corp. fell 0.5 per cent, while Suncor Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. fell 0.2 per cent each