US jobless claims/Foreclosures: The number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell to 457,000 last week, a figure that signals continued stress in the jobs market despite the recovery.

However, the previous week's level of claims was revised upward, from 464,000 to 468,000. The four-week moving average -- which seeks smooth out volatility in the data -- fell by 4,500 to 452,500 in the week ended July 24. The prior week's average was revised to 457,000. The number of continuing claims -- those drawn by workers for more than one week in the week ended July 17th -- rose by 81,000 to 4,565,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,484,000.

Foreclosures rose in 75% of the US metro areas during the first half of 2010, according to a report issued Thursday. RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed homes, said that California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada continue to lead the nation in the rate of foreclosures. Las Vegas was the worst-hit city.  But now unemployment has replaced toxic mortgages as the leading cause of foreclosures throughout the country, according to spokesman Rick Sharga.

"Las Vegas has seamlessly shifted from having a high level of foreclosures due to bad loans," said Sharga, "to defaults caused by a high level of unemployment." Some 14.5% of its work force was idle in June, up 2.1 points from last June.

Las Vegas had one filing for every 15 households in the metro area. The second highest rate was in Cape Coral/Fort Myers, Fla., with one for every 20 households. Two California cities, Modesto and Merced, tied for third with one filing for every 22 households.

The good news is that most of the worst-hit cities have actually seen their foreclosures rates decline, as the subprime crisis fades. But while those cities have seen slight improvement, other areas are getting hit harder by the economy.

"Look at a place like Salt Lake City," said Sharga. "The foreclosure rise there appears to be entirely related to the economy," not because people can't afford their subprime loans.

Salt Lake's unemployment is up this year, rising 0.2% to 7.1% in June, even as the national unemployment rate dropped 0.2% to 9.5%.

Lenders filed foreclosure notices for one in every 48 Salt Lake City households during the first six months of 2010, a 55% increase over the same period in 2009.

Besides Salt Lake City, other metro areas where foreclosures have soared primarily due to the economy include Chicago, which saw filings climb 23% year-over-year to one in every 48 households. Charleston, S.C.'s, rate climbed 17% to one in every 68 homes, while Albuquerque saw a 157% jump in filings to one in 80 households.

Each of these cities has rising unemployment. Chicago's unemployment stood at 10.6% in June, more than a point above the national rate, while Albuquerque's unemployment jumped to 8.9% from 7.9% in the last 12 months and Charleston's rate stands at 9.5%.

However, the report also found markets  in the Northeast, Midwest and Texas, where home prices did not surge during the boom and have not fallen very far during the bust.

Utica, New York, had the lowest filing rate of any of the 206 cities in the report, just one in 4,859 households.

“We’ve clearly demonstrated this quarter that growth is back,” Peter Loscher CEO of Siemens, told CNBC after Siemens beat its Q3 expectations. Mark Tinker also joined the discussion:

Gas: Bord Gáis Energy today announced its intention to maintain gas prices at their current levels for Residential and SME sectors from 1st October 2010 in a proposal submitted to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER). The proposal to maintain gas prices at current levels comes despite the significant increases in wholesale gas prices over the last year. This will be the fourth consecutive price review without increasing costs to customers and equates to a cumulative decrease in gas prices of over 25% since May 2009. Bord Gáis Energy is also calling on the CER to publish a roadmap to gas deregulation as soon as possible to enable Bord Gáis Energy to actively compete on price which will ultimately benefit customers.

Bord Gáis Chief Executive, John Mullins, said: “We are pleased that despite an increase in wholesale energy prices, we are able to maintain prices at their current level. We look forward to being able to provide more value to our customers on a dual fuel basis when the gas market is fully deregulated.”

A final determination on gas prices will be made by the CER in early September 2010.

Asia: A Long-Term Growth Story: The domestic demand story makes India, China and Indonesia attractive, says Jonathan Reoch, senior portfolio manager at AMP Capital Investors. He also tells CNBC's Oriel Morrison, why he favors higher beta plays such as banks and property firms:

US

In New York Thursday, the Dow Jones rose 9 points or 0.09% to 10,507.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.04% and the Nasdaq  lost 0.27%.