Quick Overview

• The number of U.S. workers filing for initial unemployment benefits fell 21,000 to 330,000 for the week ended June 4, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
  
  

• The amount of new debt taken on by Americans rose 10% in the first quarter, to $24.8 trillion, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. It was the fastest growth since the second quarter of 2003. Federal government debt rose 13.8%, its fastest quarterly pace in two years. U.S. mortgage debt rose 10.5% in the first quarter and business debt rose 7.5%, the Fed said.
  
  

• The first tropical storm
  of the 2005 hurricane season formed in the northwest Caribbean, moving closer toward Cuba and on a track to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
  
  

• Stock index futures and the Dollar rallied midday as traders decided Greenspan offered no major changes in monetary policy during his congressional testimony.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that natural gas supplies were up 112 billion cubic feet to 1.890 trillion cubic feet. Supplies are now up 14% from a year ago.
  
  

• The latest USDA Drought Monitor shows abnormally dry conditions stretching from Michigan to Louisiana.
  

• An index of consumer confidence in Japan increased from 47.4 to 48.3 in May, still a sign of pessimism.

• Australia's unemployment rate remained at 5.1% in May, the lowest in 28 years.