In the week ending July 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance was 255,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 281,000, the Labor Department reported. This is the lowest level for initial claims since November 24, 1973, when it was 233,000. The four-week moving average was 278,500, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 282,500. 

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 4.04%, down from 4.09% one week ago, according to Freddie Mac. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 3.21%, down from 3.25%.

Major U.S. stock indices closed lower again Thursday as more disappointing earnings reports were announced. The Dow lost 119.12 points (0.67%) to finish at 17,731.92, the NASDAQ was down 25.36 points (0.49%) at 5,146.41, and the S&P 500 decreased 12.00 points (0.57%) to 2,102.15. The Russell 2000 fell 13.38 points (1.06%) to 1,244.97, and the Wilshire 5000 closed 133.72 points (0.60%) lower at 22,132.00.

On the NYSE, 3.2 billion shares changed hands, and on the NASDAQ, nearly 2.9 billion shares traded, with declining issues outnumbering advancing issues more than 2 to 1 on both exchanges.

The price of the 10-year Treasury bond increased 15/32, bringing its yield down to 2.269%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond climbed 1 12/32, decreasing its yield to 2.969%.

ON THIS DATE: In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in present-day Utah. In 1866, Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the U.S. Civil War. In 1911, American archeologist Hiram Bingham got his first look at Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca settlement in Peru that is now one of the world’s top tourist destinations. In 1982, “Eye Of The Tiger” from Rocky III topped the U.S. pop charts. In 1987, Hulda Crooks, at 91 years of age, climbed Mt. Fuji. Hulda became the oldest person to climb Japan’s highest peak. In 1998, Roy O. Disney received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

And now it’s time for FRIDAY FILES!

In Henrico County, Virginia, a man ordered some chicken at a Bojangle’s drive-thru, but when he received his order the chicken was cold. He asked the worker in the window to give him some fresh chicken and was told to pull aside as it would take six or seven minutes. After a while, a worker came out and handed him a bag, but when the man checked it, he didn’t find chicken; he found about $4,500 and some bank deposit slips. Thinking either he was being set up or that an employee was trying to steal the money, he went into the restaurant, asked for a manager and explained the situation. The manager’s response: “We would’ve called the authorities on you, too.” Afterward, the man said he was offered another meal and a tailgate party, but he called Bojangle’s corporate headquarters to report the manager’s nasty attitude and disrespect, and to ask for an apology.                      

In Spotswood, New Jersey, a man walked into a home through an open door while the homeowner was taking out the trash. And he stayed—for three days, under a bed in a spare bedroom. The third day, the homeowner heard a noise in the bedroom and went in to find the intruder. It wasn’t clear if or when the man planned to rob the home.

In Washingtonville, Pennsylvania, police were called about an agitated man making threats and driving a lawn mower along a road. Responding officers found a 25-year-old man who has had three drun.ken driving convictions in the last three years and whose license is suspended. He smelled of alc.ohol, had a box of be.er under his armpit, and said he was driving his lawn mower to a friend’ house. The man became uncooperative and combative, threatening officers, during the arrest, according to The Daily Item, so he had to be secured with a rope.

At Yellowstone National Park, a woman decided to take a selfie with a bison and her six-year-old daughter. They turned their back to the bison, but soon heard its footsteps coming their way. They ran, but the bison caught the mother on her right side, lifted her and tossed her with its head. CNN reports she was treated in the park’s clinic for minor injuries.

In Merseyside, U.K., a man told his wife that he stopped smoking after his doctor advised him to improve his lifestyle after he had a heart attack. But the wife got suspicious after he stormed out of the house when she confronted him over a stash of empty cookie wrappers in his car, TIME reports. Hearing that Google’s Street View car had been to her street that week, the wife went online and found an image of her husband smoking in the driveway.

In Covington, Kentucky, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has determined you have no right to privacy if you pocket dial someone and they listen in, or even record the call. The Consumerist reports that a firm’s former board chairman tried to call his executive assistant, but didn’t reach her, so he put his phone in his pocket, which dialed her number. When she answered, she heard her boss and the board’s vice chairman talking about replacing the then-CEO. Thinking they were discussing how to unlawfully discriminate against the CEO, the executive assistant recorded the conversation and turned it in to other members of the board. The former chairman sued her for violating a federal wiretap act. But, both a district court and the appellate court ruled that the former chairman did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The appellate court judge likened it to a homeowner opening the curtains of a home: “[E]xposure need not be deliberate and instead can be the inadvertent product of neglect. Under the plain-view doctrine, if a homeowner neglects to cover a window with drapes, he would lose his reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to a viewer looking into the window from outside of his property…the doctrine applies to auditory as well as visual information.”