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8B Daily News – Friday, July 6, 2012 NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks closed mostly lower on Wall Street Thursday after signs emerged that Americans are spending at a slower pace and that China's economy may be in worse shape than previously thought. slowed their spending in June, resulting in tepid sales for many retailers. Target's stock fell 1 percent and Costco Wholesale fell less than a percent after report- ing that sales rose less than analysts were expecting. ''It all boils down to one American shoppers little word: uncertainty,'' said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rock- well Global Capital. ''No one will spend if it feels like we're in a recession.'' The reports raised con- cerns about Americans' ability to spend during the back-to-school shopping season, which starts later this month. That's a crucial Weak retail sales figures push stocks lower Wall Street period for retailers. The Dow Jones industri- al average closed down 47.15 points at 12,896.67 on Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 6.44 points to 1,367.58. The Nasdaq composite was 0.04 point higher at 2,976.12. Eight of the 10 major industries tracked by the S&P 500 fell, led by bank stocks. JPMorgan Chase fell $1.50, or 4 percent, to $34.38, while Bank of America fell 24 cents, or 3 percent, to $7.82. investors earlier Thursday when it cut interest rates for the second time in a month. That caused investors to worry that the downturn in the world's second-largest economy may be worse than previously expected. The People's Bank of China cut its main lending China surprised rate 0.31 percentage point to 6 percent and reduced its deposit rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 3 per- cent. The bank said the lower rates are intended to boost economic growth in the second half of the year. Analysts said the cuts are also a sign that Chinese authorities are increasingly concerned about that coun- try's economy. As the largest buyer of ''Given the big negative headlines we have had this past month from Europe, business owners would have been cautious about hiring,'' said Steven Gold- man, principal of asset man- ager Goldman Manage- ment. Goldman expects the data to reflect a weak jobs market. raw materials, a slowdown in China can hurt sales at a wide range of companies and cause commodities prices to weaken. Crude oil fell 44 cents to $87.22 per barrel, and copper lost 4.7 cents to $3.493 a pound. Central banks in Europe also moved to stem a slow- down there. The Bank of England approved a 50 bil- lion pound injection into the ailing British economy, while the European Central Bank cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a per- Tehama Country Real Estate WESTERN REAL ESTATE Commercial Properties For Sale: MINCH PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 760 Main St. • 530-527-5514 • 455 S. 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Robert Thayer, Owner / Realtor 1704 Solano St. Corning Ca, 96021 Cell (530) 515-3367 Email rthayer@remax.net License # 01486553 RE/MAX American Dream Economists are predict- ing that the unemployment rate held steady at 8.2 per- cent. centage point to 0.75 per- cent, the lowest it's been since the bank was estab- lished in 1999. However, at least two reports on Thursday sketched a picture of a slow- ly improving job market. Weekly unemployment Usually central bank action to spur economies bolsters stock prices. But investors were cautious ahead of the closely- watched U.S. government's report on hiring for June that is scheduled for release on Friday. THIS WEEK OPEN HOUSE benefit applications dropped by 14,000 to 374,000, the Labor Depart- ment said Thursday. That's the fewest since the week of May 19. provider ADP said busi- nesses added 176,000 jobs last month. That's better than the revised total of 136,000 jobs it reported for May. If that pace keeps up, it would be enough to lower the unemployment rate. An increase in jobs will spur people to spend and provide a boost to the econ- omy. Though some key retailers reported poor sales for June, several others beat analysts' expectations. Ross Stores stock rose $4.41, or over 7 percent, to $67.19 after the discount store operator said sales at stores open at least a year rose 7 percent in June, easi- ly beating Wall Street pre- Separately, payroll dictions. TJX Cos., which operates T.J. Maxx, Mar- shalls and Home Goods stores, also reported a wider-than-expected 7 per- cent increase in sales last month. Its stock rose $1.59, or 3.7 percent, to $44.09. Among other stocks making big moves: — Netflix jumped $9.68, or 13.5 percent, to $81.72 after the company said earlier this week that its online subscriber base was increasing. — Apple gained $10.53, or 1.76 percent, to $609.94, after The Wall Street Jour- nal reported that the compa- ny is preparing to come out with a tablet computer with a screen smaller than the one its hugely popular iPad. Google phasing out 'iGoogle' SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is phasing out a ser- vice that allows millions of people to personalize its home page with applications such as weather updates and stock quotes. turned off in November 2013. The mobile version of iGoogle will be discontinued at the end of this month. Google Inc. disclosed its plans this week. It's being swept out as part of a periodic housecleaning that has seen Google scrap more than 30 products since co-founder Larry Page became CEO 15 months ago. Page has been trying to sharpen Google's focus on search, The customization service, known as iGoogle, will be advertising, video, social networking and mobile devices. The scheduled termination of iGoogle will come eight years after Google first offered the personalization tool. It had been seen as a way to encourage people to return to Google more frequently for information they are interested in. It also encouraged more people to create Google accounts, which made it easier for the company to identify their individual interests. The climate has changed since iGoogle started as an unbranded personal page in 2005. These days, many people get weather and other informa- tion through applications they install on smartphones and tablet computers. People who use Google's Chrome brows- er can also access a variety of apps with functions offered by iGoogle. ''The need for iGoogle has eroded over time,'' Matt Eich- ner, Google's general manager of global enterprise search, wrote in a Tuesday blog post. in its first two years of existence, making it the company's fastest-growing service in early 2007. The company hasn't disclosed more recent figures. Google said tens of millions of people used iGoogle with-