The Labor Department that showed Americans filing for first time unemployment benefits declined by 19,000 in the latest week to 326,000, below the estimate of 345,000. That was the lowest level since January of 2008. Over in the manufacturing sector, the ISM Index surged to 55.4 in July, above the 50.9 recorded in June and was the highest level since June of 2011. Within the report it showed that the employment component rose by 5.7 points to 54.4. The news sent the closely watched S&P 500 Stock Index to historic record levels.