NEW YORK: US stocks fell slightly in opening trade Thursday amid eurozone recession concerns and fresh data indicating slow but steady improvement in the US job market.
In the first five minutes of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 16.42 points (0.13 percent) to 12,922.25.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.91 points (0.10 percent) to 2,930.26, and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index retreated 1.90 points (0.14 percent) to 1,355.76.
New claims for US unemployment benefits, a key indicator of the pace of layoffs, held steady last week, the Labor Department reported, while the four-week moving average continued to fall.
The jobless claims report "failed to inspire a bid," said David Campione at Briefing.com
Traders are "awaiting a new catalyst" to inspire buying, he said.
Wall Street stocks ended modestly lower Wednesday on continuing recession fears.
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