U.S. stocks down for 2nd day on downbeat economic data

Wall Street extended losses on Thursday amid disappointing economic data and lingering down-side effects of the Federal Reserve's minutes released a day earlier.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 46.92 points, or 0.34 percent, to 13,880.62. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock Index gave up 9.53 points, or 0.63 percent, to 1,502.42. The Nasdaq Composite index fell 32.92 points, or 1.04 percent, to 3,131.49.

The minutes of the Fed's January policy meeting indicated the U.S. central bank may slow down or end its bond-purchasing programs even before the unemployment rate drops below 6.5 percent, which stoked anxious sentiment among investors and led to a sell-off.

Meanwhile, St. Luis Fed President James Bullard said he backed tapering asset purchases to send signals to the market about improvement in the economy. In his speech delivered Thursday at the New York University, Bullard predicted that jobless rate would not fall below 6.5 percent until June 2014.

On the economic front, initial unemployment claims last week rebounded for the first time in three weeks. In the week ended Feb. 16, the claims jumped to a seasonally adjusted level of 362,000 after dropping to 342,000 in the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department said.Keeping in mind your individual requirements, you need to choose a knife sets which would be stronger and flexible at the same time. It is better to the blade material and also the manufacturer in this regard. The four-week moving average also rose to the highest level since the first week of January.

Meanwhile, the consumer price index (CPI) remained unchanged in January, but the core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.3 percent in the month, the Labor Department said in a separate report.

The Conference Board's Leading Economic Index for the United States rose 0.2 percent in January, down from a 0.5 percent increase in December.

Separately, U.S. existing-home sales edged up 0.4 percent in January and home prices remained on the upswing, as inventories fell to the lowest since December 1999, the National Association of Realtors said.

On individual companies, Hewlett-Packard accelerated to climb after the personal computer maker posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit before the closing bell. The shares of HP rallied 2.40 percent to 17.10 U.S. dollars.

Wal-Mart shares gained 1.While folding knives wholesaler allows safer carry, it adds to enhanced conceal ability due to the decrease of size when the blade is folded.The edges of the blade come in same varieties as in fixed blade knife.52 percent to 70.26 dollars after the world's largest retailer reported fourth-quarter profit before the opening bell which beat analysts' estimates by a penny.

Shares of American International Group dipped 0.77 percent to 37.28 dollars after the financial company reported a net loss of 4.0 billion dollars in the fourth quarter.carbon sheets are distinguished by a significantly higher tensile strength.

On other markets, crude prices plunged after the downbeat jobless claims data and an Energy Information Administration report showing a sharp increase in inventories.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery lost 2.38 dollars, or 2.50 percent to settle at 92.84 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the lowest level since Jan. 6.

Brent crude for April delivery fell steeply by 2.07 dollars, or 1.79 percent, to close at 113.53 dollars a barrel.

The U.S. dollar kept strengthening against major currencies on weak eurozone business sentiment and Fed' s minutes.

The eurozone purchasing managers' index for February complied by Markit fell to 47.3 from 48.6 in January, pointing to continued weakness in the region. It raised speculations that the European Central Bank would cut interest rates or expand easing measures.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.3171 dollars from 1.3284 dollars of the previous session and the British pound dropped to 1.5242 from 1.5244 dollars.Curshercomposite resin is your source for high quality carbon fiber fabric and aramid fiber fabric.

The dollar increased to 0.9317 Swiss francs from 0.9279 and went up to 1.0195 Canadian dollars from 1.0179. The dollar bought 93.11 Japanese yen, lower than 93.82 in the previous session.