In the week ending February 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance was 223,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 242,000, the Labor Department reported. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 31, 1973 when it was 222,000. The four-week moving average was 234,250, a decrease of 6,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 240,500. This is the lowest level for this average since April 14, 1973 when it was 232,750.

Thursday, the Dow lost 112.58 points (0.53%) to finish at 21,002.97, the NASDAQ closed 42.81 points (0.73%) lower at 5,861.22, and the S&P 500 was down 14.04 points (0.59%) at 2,381.92. The Russell 2000 decreased 17.96 points (1.27%) to 1,395.67, and the Wilshire 5000 fell 170.65 points (0.68%) to 24,790.13.

On the NYSE, 3.1 billion shares changed hands, and on the NASDAQ, 2.9 billion shares traded, with declining issues outnumbering advancing issues more than 2 to 1 on both exchanges.

ON THIS DATE: In 1791, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution that created the U.S. Mint. In 1845, Florida became the 27th U.S. state. In 1845, Congress passed legislation overriding a U.S. President’s veto. It was the first time the Congress had achieved this. In 1845, an Act of Congress established uniform postal rates throughout the nation. The act went into effect on July 1, 1845. In 1849, the U.S. Department of the Interior was established. In 1849, Congress created the territory of Minnesota. In 1863, free city delivery of mail was authorized by the U.S. Postal Service. In 1885, the American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) company was incorporated in New York as a subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone Company. In 1910, J.D. Rockefeller Jr. announced his withdrawal from business to administer his father’s fortune for an “uplift in humanity”. He also appealed to the U.S. Congress for the creation of the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1923, the first issue of Time magazine was published. In 1931, the “Star Spangled Banner,” written by Francis Scott Key, was adopted as the American national anthem. In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan testified in a Los Angeles court that he killed Robert Kennedy.

In Nijmegen-Zuid, Netherlands, a 99-year-old woman told her niece that getting jailed and booked was something she always wanted to do, but hadn’t. So, her niece called police and explained the situation. The police drove to the woman’s home, picked her up and drove her in a police car to the police station. Photos on Facebook showed the woman thrilled about her experience. “We don’t usually do this, but we made an exception for Annie,” a police spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. “It was just a couple of minutes in the cell. It was all about the experience. We don’t know why it was on her bucket list.”

In Seattle, Washington, a tanker truck carrying propane rolled over on an Interstate causing a major, hours-long traffic jam. But, stranded motorists were pleased to find that there was no worry of hunger, because a taco truck also stuck in the jam began handing out food to them, according to the Associated Press.

In Canada, researchers set out to find how much uri.ne is actually in swimming pools. They monitored two public pools for three weeks for acesulfame potassium (ACE). One pool contained 110,000 gallons of water, while the other held 220,000 gallons. The Huffington Post reports that based on the ACE measurements, researchers estimate that over the three-week period, swimmers released 7.92 gallons of uri.ne into the smaller pool, and nearly 20 gallons into the larger one. In addition, the team analyzed 250 samples from 31 other pools and hot tubs, and discovered ACE levels were up to 570 times greater than the amount of uri.ne found in tap water.

In Cleveland, Ohio, two teenagers tried to carjack a man, but when they got into the car, they didn’t know how to drive a stick shift. According to Reuters, they pulled a g.un on the victim and asked him for instructions, which he provided. But the two teenagers finally got frustrated and ran off with the victim’s cellphone, which was used to locate them.