OREANDA-NEWS. August 26, 2011. US stocks went down on Thursday with Oil&Gas (-2.29%), Consumer Services as laggards. S&P 500 index was down by 1.56%, Russell 2000 Index – lost 2.62%. EURUSD finished the day near 1.435.

Initial jobless claims rose by 417 thousand in a week, more than consensus forecast of 405 thousand.

Asian markets slightly fell on Friday. Hang Seng was down by 0.1%, Nikkei – added 0.29%. S&P/ASX was down by 0.3%. Shanghai stock indices lost on average 0.2%. Kospi added 0.81%.

The European stock indices futures were flat in the morning - Dow Jones Stoxx 50 futures added 0.09% while Dax futures declined by 0.31%. S&P futures added 0.48%.

Revised IIQ GDP data, Uof Michigan Consumer Confidence index will be in focus in the US today.

Fed Bernanke is to start his Jackson Hole address at 14:00 GMT.