Thursday Morning Business Brief

After a break for the Fourth of July, trading resumes on Wall Street. The Dow closed at 12,944 after a shortened trading day on Tuesday. Trading volume was light, with many investors already gone, taking off for the holiday.

• The Labor Department releases its weekly update on new claims for unemployment aid today, one day ahead of the big monthly job report. Also due out today is a report on the health of the service sector from the Institute for Supply Management and two separate private looks at the job market.
• The European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates to help the continent's fading economy and ailing banks. Many economists think the ECB will cut its benchmark refinancing rate by a quarter point to 0.75 percent, a record low.
• Moody's has taken a step toward downgrading the credit rating of Barclays in the wake of a trading scandal. The fallout has seen three senior officials, including chief executive Bob Diamond, hand in their resignations.
• Tens of thousands of Americans could lose their Internet service Monday. They need to check their computers for malware that could have taken over their PCs more than a year ago.