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Investors were hit with a triple whammy of bad economic news Thursday: manufacturing still stinks, more people are jobless and confidence in the future is less than hoped.

As a result, stocks finished sharply lower: the Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) tumbled 144 points, or 1.4%, to 10,271 and the S&P 500 (SPX) slipped 19 points, or 1.7% to 1,076. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (COMP) composite fell 37 points, or 1.7%, 2,179.

Stocks were coming off two days of gains, driven by solid earnings outlooks from retail giants Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target. But even during this week’s earlier rallies, traders were saying they were remaining cautious given fears about a double-dip recession — or at least, a slower recovery.

Thursday’s disappointing numbers on weekly jobless claims, manufacturing in the Philadelphia region and leading indicators just fanned the flames on those gloom-and-doom fears.

"Today’s news on the U.S. economy has been nothing but awful," Paul Ashworth, senior economist with Capital Economics said in a note to investors.

A report that showed manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region slowed to a 13-month low "suggests the industrial recovery is teetering on the brink," he said.

Economy: A report from the government showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance unexpectedly jumped 12,000 to 500,000 last week from an upwardly revised 488,000 the previous week. The figure was the highest level since the week ended Nov. 14.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting claims to drop to 475,000.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s economic index took an unexpected dive in August, turning to negative 7.7 when analysts had expected a positive 7.5. The index measures manufacturing activity in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, and any number below zero indicates business activity in the sector is slowing down.

Meanwhile, the index of leading economic indicators - a measure of the economy’s future performance - increased a mere 0 guaranteed payday loans.1% in July, the Conference Board said. Analysts had forecast a 0.2% increase for the month.

Companies: After the close, Dell reported higher quarterly earnings and revenue that surpassed analysts’ forecasts. But shares of Dell (DELL, Fortune 500) fell about 1% in after-hours trading after losing 1.2% during regular hours.

Also after the bell, Hewlett-Packard reported quarterly earnings and sales that strongly topped its year-ago results. HP’s (HPQ, Fortune 500) stock dipped 0.3% in after-hours trading, after it fell 1.5% during the day.

Earlier Thursday, Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) said it will acquire security software maker McAfee (MFE) for $7.68 billion. Shares of Intel slipped 3.3%, while McAfee’s stock spiked about 57%.

World markets: European stocks closed lower. The FTSE 100 in Britain slipped 1.7% and the DAX in Germany moved down 1.8%. The CAC 40 in France fell 2%.

Asian shares finished the session in positive territory. The Nikkei in Japan climbed 1.3%. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.8% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.2%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar rose against the euro but fell against the U.K. pound and the Japanese yen.

Oil futures for September delivery slipped 99 cents to settle at $74.43 a barrel. Gold for December delivery rose $4 to settle at $1,235.40.

Bonds: Prices for Treasurys were higher. The yield on the 10-year note fell to 2.58% from 2.63% late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Market breadth: Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers outnumbered winners five to one on volume of 810 million shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers five to one on volume of 1.8 billion shares. 

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First Citizens BancShares’ net income soared to $28.6 million in the second quarter as loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. helped the Raleigh-based bank post strong gains in interest revenue while incurring only a slight increase in its provision for loan losses.

In an earnings release issued after the close of trading Monday, First Citizens (Nasdaq: FCNCA) reported a 362 percent gain in second quarter profit – up from $6.2 million in the same quarter last year. On a per-share basis, earnings climbed to $2.54 from 59 cents.

Net interest income jumped 40 percent, to $47.8 million, due for the most part to loans acquired by First Citizens last year when the Raleigh bank acquired failed banks on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts payday loans.

The FDIC brokered those deals and agreed to cover much of the potential loan losses.

First Citizens did raise its provision for loan losses by 53 percent – to $31.8 million – in the quarter ended June 30. But with the FDIC covering nearly 70 percent of the potential loan losses shown on First Citizens’ books, the bank is in solid shape on its bottom line.

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Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said Friday that the state collected $1.61 billion in sales tax revenue for the month of June.

This is a 2.2 percent increase compared to June 2009.

“Total sales tax collections have now slightly exceeded year-ago levels for a third consecutive month,” Combs says. “Net collections in the oil and gas and manufacturing sectors expanded, but collections from the all-important retail sector were down from the year-ago level. While overall economic activity is no longer contracting, a resumption of solid growth in sales tax collections is not yet in evidence.”

Next week, Combs will send $442.8 million in sales tax allocations to cities, counties, transit systems and special-purpose taxing districts no checking account payday advance.

San Antonio will receive $17 million from the state for the month of July. This is a 15.8 percent increase over July 2009.

Bexar County does not collect a sales tax. VIA Metropolitan Transit will receive $7.8 million in sales tax revenue from the Comptroller’s Office for July. This is an 18.8 percent increase over July 2009.

The San Antonio Advanced Transportation District will receive $3.3 million from the state for July, an 8 percent increase over July 2009.

State sales tax revenue in June and local sales tax allocations in July represent sales that occurred in May.

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Frito-Lay North America has received a $1.125 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund to launch a long-term project that will install business management software throughout the Plano-based company, creating 125 jobs in the process.

The Texas Enterprise Fund is controlled by the governor and used to recruit companies that want to relocate or expand to Texas.

Aurora Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Plano-based Frito-Lay North America, said the fund’s interest in Frito-Lay’s IT transformation centers around the project's ability to create more than a hundred jobs.

The software upgrade and IT additions are “significant projects that require specific talents and people to do the work,” Gonzalez added.

The project also will create more than $50 million in business infrastructure, the Office of Governor Rick Perry said Friday when confirming the state’s financial commitment through the TEF fund cash advance flexible payments.

Frito-Lay’s project is the next step in parent company PepsiCo.’s multi-year plan to convert and upgrade the company’s business management software throughout product lines and divisions. The state’s investment will support the team responsible for the software conversion.

In response to the money allotted by the fund, Gonzalez said Friday, “As always we value or partnership with both the state and certainly with the City of Plano. We value their commitment to us, and we remain committed to them.”

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The Environmental Protection Agency is hosting four public information meetings in the coming weeks on hydraulic fracturing, used in natural gas drilling, to look at its impact on drinking water. One of the meetings is scheduled in Canonsburg, south of Pittsburgh.

Fracing is a process which involves pumping millions of gallons of water mixed with friction-reducing chemicals and fine sand into a well at high pressure to break up the dense shale and release the natural gas trapped inside. The technique, along with the advent of horizontal drilling technology, has made the gas-rich shale formations economically possible to develop, but it also has led to new challenges when it comes to ensuring the water is cleaned up properly after use.

Southwestern Pennsylvania is an area where fracing is of particular interest, due to the widespread Marcellus Shale natural gas play in the area.

The EPA meetings will provide public information about the scope of a proposed study on fracing, and will solicit public comment. Those wishing to participate should contact the EPA at least 72 hours in advance.

The meetings are scheduled as follows:

• July 8 in Fort Worth, Texas
• July 13 in Denver, Colo.
• July 22 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn in Canonsburg
• Aug. 12 in Binghamton, N.Y., for three sessions

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Amy and Tom Asch’s Amy Asch Photography took home $12,000 and the title of best business plan from the 2010 Houston Community College and Newspring Business Plan Competition.

Amy Asch Photography, a boutique photography studio business that will open in Spring Branch.

Second prize of $8,000 went to Filip Valica for Maker Acre, a prototyping lab that will allow inventors to turn ideas into finished products by providing coaching and access to technology used by leading manufacturers. Third prize of $4,000 went to Lisa Reyna for International Consulates, a social entrepreneurship providing customized educational and support services that help to facilitate the successful integration of Houston’s foreign nationals by providing educational, vocational, social and cultural services payday lenders.

Nineteen teams competed in this year’s annual competition, which was sponsored by Newspring Center and the HCC Center for Entrepreneurship. Newspring is a local social entrepreneurship, nonprofit organization founded by Robert Westheimer dedicated to creating economic opportunities for residents of Spring Branch.

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Warren Buffett offered his strongest defense yet of Goldman Sachs, saying he doesn’t believe the investment bank acted improperly in a sale of subprime-related securities at the heart of a Securities and Exchange Commission fraud case.

"I do not hold against Goldman at all that an allegation has been made," Buffett said Saturday at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha. He adds that he "loves" Berkshire’s lucrative investment in Goldman preferred stock and believes the firm remains the best investment bank in the world.

The fraud case and reports that the Justice Department may pursue a related criminal case have hit Goldman’s stock hard. Shares have dropped 22% in the past two weeks and closed Friday at their lowest level since last July.

But Buffett defended the bank and its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, even as some on Wall Street are wagering the SEC case may lead to Blankfein’s departure. Asked who else should run Goldman (GS, Fortune 500) if Blankfein had to step down, Buffett said he has "never given that a thought. There’s really no reason."

The SEC stunned Wall Street two weeks ago by filing a civil fraud case alleging that Goldman misled investors in a 2007 sale of subprime-backed debt, by failing to disclose that a hedge fund manager who was betting against the investment helped to select the securities in the transaction.

The hedge fund manager, John Paulson, made $1 billion when the investment lost all its value within months. That caused major losses at two big European banks.

The SEC said Goldman deceived the investors in the deal, known as Abacus 2007-AC1, by failing to disclose the inherent conflict posed by Paulson’s bet against the portfolio.

Goldman has said it acted properly, and Buffett said he believes ACA, a bond insurer that made a $900 million bet on Abacus that was backed by Dutch bank ABN Amro, failed to weigh the risks involved.

"They made what turned out to be a dumb insurance decision," Buffett said. "I don’t see what difference it made who was on the other side of the deal."

Buffett made his comments in response to shareholder questions at the Berkshire (BRKA, Fortune 500) annual meeting.

One questioner brought up Buffett’s 1991 testimony before a House subcommittee on the Salomon Brothers Treasury bond scandal, in which Buffett - who had just taken charge of Salomon as the Treasury actions threatened to bring it down — famously promised to be "ruthless" when any employee acted in a way that hurt the firm’s reputation.

But both Buffett and his longtime investing partner, Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, made clear they don’t view the allegations against Goldman as rising to the seriousness of that case, in which Salomon was accused of trying to manipulate the market for Treasury securities.

"There’s no question that the … press of the past few weeks hurt the company," Buffett said, adding that "the allegation of something" did not fall in his "category of losing reputation."

Munger noted that he would have voted with the two Republicans on the SEC who opposed bringing a civil fraud charge against Goldman. He and Buffett also agreed they didn’t believe Goldman had a duty to disclose to shareholders when it received a so-called Wells notice — a letter from the SEC indicating charges were likely.

And though Buffett acknowledged the past two weeks have been "painful" for Goldman, he said the allegations are actually positive, in one way, for Berkshire.

The company made a $5 billion preferred stock investment in Goldman in September 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. The shares pay Berkshire $500 million in annual dividends — or more than $15 a second, Buffett said.

Buffett said he has been expecting Goldman, as is its right, to buy Berkshire out of the costly preferred shares by paying Berkshire $5.5 billion. Berkshire would then likely reinvest those funds in safe securities paying around $20 million annually.

But with investigations swirling around Goldman, regulators aren’t likely to soon allow Goldman to repay Berkshire, Buffett said. That means the healthy dividend checks should keep rolling in for a while.

"Every day that Goldman doesn’t call our preferred is money in the bank," Buffett said. "That’s $15 a tick. Tick, tick, tick. I don’t want those ticks to go away."

Berkshire earnings soar

Buffett also reported Saturday that operating earnings at Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) rose 30% from a year ago in the first quarter, as economic activity has picked up this spring.

Berkshire posted a first-quarter profit of $3.6 billion. That reverses a year-ago loss of $1.5 billion. As always, the results were heavily affected by gains and losses on the firm’s investments and derivatives contacts.

Excluding those noisy factors, as Buffett prefers to, Berkshire’s operating profit rose to $2.2 billion in the quarter from $1.7 billion a year earlier.

The gains were driven by strong results at Berkshire’s operating businesses, which range from utilities and railroads to metalworking and furniture.

Profit at the company’s regulated businesses, including big electric generator MidAmerican Energy and recently acquired railroad Burlington Northern, more than doubled to $555 million.

Earnings at the company’s manufacturing, service and retail arms rose sharply as well, jumping 85% to $477 million.

Insurance earnings slipped from a year ago though, to $1.16 billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier. Berkshire owns auto insurance giant Geico among other insurance businesses.

While jobs are returning slowly after a long recession, "business is coming back more than slowly," Buffett told CNNMoney.com. He said March and April were "very strong months" in the company’s operating businesses.

"People have regained confidence to some degree," Buffett said. "There has been a real resurgence in demand." 

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The landlord at Eastland Mall has told its tenants they must vacate the shopping center by June 30.

The landlord, LNR Partners Inc. of Miami, says the mall’s owners have been unable to find a buyer for the property, and the property is now in foreclosure, according to a letter delivered to store owners Friday.

“It is understood that the lender or any other party that acquires title to Eastland Mall at foreclosure will close the mall,” the letter states. “We regret that this action is necessary, but given the present economic environment, we have no other option.”

The mall, which has operated at Central Avenue and Sharon Amity Road since 1975, has struggled in recent years to attract and maintain tenants. It is the Charlotte region’s fifth-largest shopping center, measuring nearly 1.1 million square feet.

“We will continue to serve the tenants and the customers until June 30,” says Christine Vigneault, general manager of Eastland Mall.

Last year, the city of Charlotte had options to purchase the former Belk Inc. and Dillard’s Inc. anchor spaces as part of a plan to redevelop the property. But, after a rezoning hearing, the City Council directed the city staff to “take no further action” on the mall.

Discussions about buying the struggling property pegged acquisition costs for the mall, its anchors stores and surrounding parcels at up to $50 million, according to sources familiar with those talks.

In October, the real estate investment trust that owned the core of the retail center — but not its four anchor-store spaces — handed the property back to its lender. Ohio-based Glimcher Realty Trust (NYSE:GRT) had a $42 million loan on the property.

The real estate investment trust’s mortgage was diced up and sold off as commercial mortgage-backed securities long ago.

The mall is now under the control of a holding company overseen by LNR.

LNR, the special servicer on the loan, is owned by private-equity fund Cerberus Capital Management.

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BRUSSELS — The sinking euro and a downgrade of Portugal’s debt put renewed pressure on European leaders Wednesday to come up with a bailout plan for Greece and stem the government debt crisis undermining their shared currency.

But agreement remained elusive as today’s summit meeting approached. Markets increasingly expect any bailout for Greece to involve the International Monetary Fund — and EU governments are discussing whether they would permit that and add financial help from eurozone nations.

Germany is holding back a deal, reluctant to put taxpayer money on the line for Greece. But failure to help an indebted eurozone country would be an admission that Europe can’t halt the crisis in its currency union.

The latest vote of no confidence in vulnerable eurozone economies came with Fitch Ratings’ downgrade Wednesday of Portugal’s debt faxless cash advance. The credit ratings agency said that Portugal’s prospects for recovery were weaker than others in the eurozone and that it faced problems shrinking its deficit.

The euro hit a 10-month low against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday on the Portuguese downgrades and the uncertainty over Europe’s dithering over Greece — which says it will need eurozone or IMF help if markets keep charging it painfully high costs to borrow.

Greece’s debt crisis has undermined the euro by showing that the rules supporting it have not prevented governments from overspending, hitting public accounts. Athens’ woes are also putting pressure on other eurozone countries with troubled finances, such as Portugal and Spain.

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The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed Wednesday that the agency was investigating several companies’ actions in the run-up to the financial crisis of 2008.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said "it would be safe to assume" that the agency was looking very closely at the conduct of a number of firms during this time. She did not name the companies.

Schapiro spoke in testimony to a House Appropriations subcommittee weighing the agency’s request for about $1.3 billion for the budget year starting Oct. 1, a 12 percent increase from the current year.

Lawmakers want to know if the sort of accounting gimmick recently uncovered that was used by the collapsed investment firm Lehman Brothers to mask billions in debt was widely deployed on Wall Street.

The SEC’s review of the Lehman Brothers disaster "has taken us down a path where we’re looking broadly," Schapiro said after her testimony.

The implosion of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history in September 2008 precipitated the financial meltdown that plunged the economy into the most severe recession since the 1930s.

After saddling itself with tens of billions in troubled assets that couldn’t easily be sold, Lehman masked $50 billion in debt and its perilous financial condition by using the so-called Repo 105 accounting gimmick, an examiner appointed by the bankruptcy court found in an extensive report issued last week personal loans for people with bad credit.

Questions are being raised about the supervision of Lehman by the SEC and the Federal Reserve in the months before its collapse.

"The culture of the agency is changing. It doesn’t happen overnight," Schapiro told the lawmakers. "We’re working very hard at the SEC … to rebuild the agency’s credibility."

In the meltdown’s wake, the SEC and the Justice Department launched wide-ranging investigations of companies across the financial services industry, believed to include American International Group Inc. and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as Lehman. A year and a half after the financial crisis struck, charges haven’t yet come in most of the investigations.

The autopsy of Lehman issued last week by bankruptcy examiner Anton Valukas could serve as a valuable road map for the two agencies in their investigations, experts say.

Schapiro said Wednesday that the report raised "some very interesting points" and would be "helpful."

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