NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Retail stocks opened lower Thursday, led by Limited Brands Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp., against lingering concerns about the pace of economic recovery as jobless claims continued to hover above 500,000 for a 53rd straight week.

I’m not sure what happened last night. I was tinkering around on the Web just surfing news and lost track of time. When I looked up it was midnight. Not good when you have to wake up at 4:30 a.m. I guess the good news is that the weekend is just around the corner and maybe just maybe I’ll get the chance to sleep in.Asian stocks ended lower. Then Hang Seng and the Nikkei were off 0.86% and 1.32% respectively. European stocks were trading lower early this morning too. And here in the US we're currently trading lower.Here’s what ...

As America prepares to tuck into turkeys Byrd became our longest serving lawmaker Birds Eye is being bought by Blackstone (BX) and yesterday’s equity action was one for the birds. With housing taking a hosing stocks slipped slightly as investors opted to sit on the sidelines evidently in a La-Z-Boy (LZB) (+28.69% on impressive earnings). On an otherwise down Dow day Bank of America’s (BAC) 3.68% gain was good for the index’s biggest increase doubtless delighting its ex-director and largest individual shareholder Meredith Spangler. (If not Meredith Whitney who renewed her bearish stance earlier in the week.) Gold recorded its eighth record ...

U.S. stock futures pointed to a downbeat start Thursday, as pessimism surrounding the world economy weighed on markets. See Indications.

Among the shares expected to see active trade in Thursday's session are Aetna, Campbell Soup, Hot Topic, Jack in the Box, Limited, NetApp, Sears, Sony and Stage Stores.

Provides Guidance for the 4th Quarter of 2009

Amy Kocourek Joins Hot Topic as Chief Merchandising Officer