February 21, 2013-Stocks Close Lower on Global Economic Concerns

While the markets experienced a late-day recovery attempt, stocks still ended Thursday's trading mostly lower after coming under pressure earlier in the day. The losses on the day extended the downward move seen over the course of the previous session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day but still closed in the red. The Dow dipped 46.92 points or 0.3 percent to 13,880.62, the Nasdaq fell 32.92 points or 1 percent to 3,131.49 and the S&P 500 slid 9.53 points or 0.6 percent to 1,502.42. The lower close on Wall Street came as traders continued to cash in on the recent strength in the markets, which lifted the major averages to multi-year closing highs on Tuesday. Concerns about the outlook for monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve also weighed on stocks along with disappointing reports on weekly jobless claims and Philadelphia manufacturing activity. Before the start of trading, the Labor Department released a report showing that initial jobless claims climbed to 362,000 in the week ended February 16th, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 342,000.