U.S. stocks closed slightly lower Thursday, as stocks hit new milestones early before pulling back. In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released jobless claims data for late March, and it was worse than expected, raising concerns about what could be coming on Friday in the March jobs report. In international economic news, across the pond, the European Central Bank (ECB) said that it will keep its key interest rate unchanged at 0.25 percent, as widely expected. But the central bank is facing growing pressure to do more to stimulate the Eurozone economy as risks of deflation rise and the euro remains stronger than some would prefer. ECB President Mario Draghi tried to use words to calm the markets. He affirmed in a press conference the bank's commitment to keep inflation at a healthy level, but he did not announce any new measures to prop up the economy. Still, he said the ECB's governing body is considering a quantitative easing strategy similar to that deployed by the Federal Reserve (Fed). --More 10:57 LOCAL TIME 07:57 GMT تغريد
