Unemployment benefits at 26-year high

• By JEANNINE AVERSA
• Associated Press writer
• Published: Dec 4, 2008 - UPDATED: 11:20 a.m.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- More evidence of consumers' weary state and the nation's deteriorating job market came Thursday with reports that people continuing to draw unemployment benefits climbed to a 26-year high, while retail sales and orders to U.S. factories sank.

The number of newly laid-off people signing up for unemployment benefits last week dropped by 21,000 to 509,000, the Labor Department reported. Even with the drop - which was better than the increase economists were forecasting - the level of jobless applications was still quite high and pointed to a deeply troubled employment climate.

The number of people continuing to draw unemployment benefits last week climbed to 4.09 million, a 26-year high.

AT&T, the Dallas-based telecommunications giant, announced it will slash 12,000 jobs - or about 4 percent of its work force - in response to all the economic troubles. Job reductions will take place this month and into next year.

A grim picture was forming as retailers reported their November sales Thursday.

Costco Wholesale Corp., usually a strong performer, reported a bigger-than expected drop in same-store sales. Other retailers that saw declines in same-store sales are Bon-Ton Stores Inc., Limited Brands Inc. and Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are considered a key indicator of a retailer's health.

All told, the Goldman Sachs-International Council of Shopping Centers sales index of retailers is expected to show a 1 percent drop in November, slightly worse than the 0.9 percent decline in October. That would be the weakest November performance since at least 1969 when the index began.

"Basically shoppers and workers are being told there is no Santa Claus," said Richard Yamarone, an economist at Argus Research.

Orders to U.S. factories plunged in October by the sharpest amount in over eight years as a deepening recession caused big cutbacks in demand for steel, autos, computers and heavy machinery, the Commerce Department said.

Factory orders dropped 5.1 percent in October, the largest decrease since an 8.5 percent fall in July 2000. It also was larger than the 4 percent drop that economists had been expecting. They believe manufacturing will continue to be under pressure for many more months, reflecting a deepening recession that is already the longest slump in a quarter-century.

Wall Street received the grim economic reports with relative calm. The market has advanced in seven of the last eight sessions, a sign that some stability is returning to the Street. The Dow Jones industrials were down about 40 points in morning trading.

Elsewhere, central banks in Europe, in a series of separate moves, slashed their key interest rates Thursday to cushion fallout from the financial crisis, which is hobbling economies worldwide.

The European Central Bank dropped its rate to 2.5 percent, from 3.25 percent. The Bank of England lowered its rate to 2 percent, the lowest since 1951. The Swedish Riksbank cut its key rate, by a record 1.75 percentage points to 2 percent.