U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

U.S. stock markets opened lower, dragged by news that the SEC is probing Dow Component General Motors. Major indexes have extended declines on economic data releases. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders fell 2.1% in September. Economists had been expecting a 1.5% decline.Transportation orders, orders for computers, electrical equipment and appliances fell sharply.

The Labor Department released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended October 22, showing a bigger than expected decrease. The report showed that initial jobless claims in the week ended October 22 fell to 328,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 356,000.

The networking sector is extending Wednesday's decline, currently down 1.8% with Alcatel (ALA: chart) falling about 5% on earnings news. The disk drive sector is another decliner in the tech space, slipping by 1.3%.

Rebounding from recent losses, HMO stocks are showing strength in the early going. The chemical sector is also strong, extending a rally of the past couple days that has been led by DuPont (DD: chart).

Treasury yields have given back a portion of their recent moves. The 10-year yield is down 2.8 basis points to 4.563%.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Carmaker General Motors Corp. (GM: chart) rejected speculation it was planning to file for bankruptcy and may seek protection from its creditors. This suposition came as a result of the company’s report that it had received requests from the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of an agency investigation of its pension obligations and business dealings with bankrupt company Delphi Corp. General Motors stock dropped 2.6%.

Telecom giant Verizon Communications (VZ: chart) reported third-quarter results that beat forecasts, boosted by continued strength in its wireless business. In addition, the company’s rival SBC Communications (SBC: chart) confirmed speculation that it will aquire the AT&T name when the two companies' union is completed. Verizon stock gained 1.3%.

Oil company Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM: chart) posted adjusted quarterly results that fell slightly of analyst predictions. The company’s stock declined 0.4%

Dow Chemical (DOW: chart) reported quarterly results that were well above Wall Street expectations. These results were boosted mainly by strength in the company’s Plastics division. Dow Chemical stock jumped 2.6%.

Chinese search engine Baidu.com Inc. (BIDU: chart) posted its first quarterly results since going public. The company’s results fell short of analyst expectations. Baidu shares fell more than 15%.

ECONOMIC NEWS

Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended October 22, showing a bigger than expected decrease.

The report showed that initial jobless claims in the week ended October 22 fell to 328,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 356,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to about 340,000 from the 355,000 originally reported for the previous week.

About 24,000 of the new jobless claims were people that were put out of work by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The increase lifted the total number of claims resulting from the storms to 502,000.

The Labor Dept. also said that the 4-week moving average fell to 366,500 from the previous week's revised average of 376,500. This marks the third consecutive decrease by the less volatile moving average.

The report also said that continuing claims in the week ended October 15 rose to 2.904 million from the preceding week's revised level of 2.862 million.

After showing a notable increase in August, new orders for durable goods turned lower in September, according to a report from the Department of Commerce. The decrease exceeded economist estimates, adding to recent concerns about the outlook for the economy.

The report showed that new orders for goods meant to last at least three years fell 2.1 percent in September following an upwardly revised 3.8 percent increase in August. Economists had expected a more modest decline of about 1.0 percent compared to the 3.4 percent increase originally reported for August