Stocks fell slightly Thursday, as trading volume remained light during the last week of the year, partly due to the massive snowstorm that hit the northeastern United States over the weekend. Stocks have risen 6 percent in December and are on track to post percentage gains of more than 10 percent for the year. In U.S. economic news, jobless claims fell last week to the lowest level since mid-2008, the government reported. A realtors association said pending sales of previously owned homes rose 3.5 percent in November. In company news, shares of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation jumped 6.2 percent after a newspaper, citing unnamed sources, suggested that mining giant BHP Billiton is preparing to make a cash bid valued at $90 per share for the oil and natural-gas producer. The U.S. dollar fell versus the euro and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for February delivery fell $1.28 to $89.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell $7.60 to $1,405.90 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 15.67, or 0.1 percent, to 11,569.71. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.90, or 0.15 percent, to 1,257.88. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 3.95, or 0.15 percent, to 2,662.98.
