Stocks drift lower as investors worry soft retail sales signal spending will remain weak

Stocks drifted lower early Thursday as news of an improving job market failed to offset the market’s disappointment over sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The Labor Department said new claims for unemployment insurance fell to a seasonally adjusted 502,000 from an upwardly revised 514,000 the previous week. That’s the fewest claims since the week ending Jan. 3, and below economists’ estimates.

The news is evidence the job market is slowly healing.

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