NEW YORK: US stocks Thursday moved lower following mixed economic data on the retail and job markets.
About 50 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 85.89 points (0.54 percent) at 15,757.64.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 5.11 (0.29 percent) to 1,777.11, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 4.04 (0.10 percent) to 3,999.77.
The losses followed a sell-off Wednesday amid profit-taking after strong gains in equities this year.
US retail sales rose a lightly better-than-expected 0.7 percent in November, a key month that kicks off the important year-end holiday shopping season.
On the downside, new jobless claims jumped to 368,000 in the week ending December 7 from 300,000 the prior week. Analysts had pegged the figure to come in at 315,000.
Hotel chain Hilton Worldwide and food-service and facilities management company Aramark both made solid gains on their first day of trade after initial public offerings.
Aramark shares were up 5.6 percent to $21.11 following its IPO price of $20.
Hilton shares jumped to $21.38 from its issue price, also $20 a share.
American Airlines Group advanced 1.4 percent after announcing deals with Bombardier and Embraer to purchase 90 new 76-seat regional jets.
Women's sports attire chain Lululemon Athletica fell 10.3 percent after issuing a disappointing profit forecast for the fourth quarter. Lululemon projected profits of 78-80 cents per share, below the 84 cents seen by analysts.
Facebook jumped 3.3 percent the S&P 500 announced the company would be added to the prestigious index.
Technology company Oracle fell 3.5 percent after RBC Capital slashed its rating on the stock to "sector perform" from "outperform," citing tough competition from other cloud computing vendors and spending concerns in China.
Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.86 percent from 2.84 percent Wednesday, while the 30-year slipped to 3.87 percent from 3.88 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
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