NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks were flat early Thursday as the European Central Bank extended its stimulus program but said it would decrease the pace of bond-buying.
The pace of ECB bond purchases will fall to 60 billion euros ($65 billion) per month in March from 80 billion euros per month. The program had originally been set to expire in March 2017, but was extended to December of next year.
"This new directive is being billed by many as a first step by the ECB toward tapering its asset purchases, yet the tonality of ECB President Draghi remains dovish," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
Thirty minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up a hair at 19,552.92.
The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.1 percent to 2,239.96, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced less than 0.1 percent at 5,395.12.
Both the Dow and S&P 500 finished at records Wednesday.
Costco Wholesale advanced 2.8 percent as earnings for the quarter ending November 20 rose 13.5 percent to $545 million. Analysts said the results suggested the big-box retailer was succeeding in a transition in credit cards to Citigroup from American Express.
Lululemon Athletica surged 17.9 percent as it announced a new $100 million stock repurchasing program after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.
Dow member Chevron climbed 0.1 percent following an announcement of a $19.8 billion capital budget for 2017. The oil giant said the budget was down at least 15 percent from the expected 2016 level, the latest instance of belt-tightening due to low oil prices.
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