U.S. stocks closed lower Thursday as investors considered reports that the European Central Bank (ECB) would consider a broad-based package of quantitative easing in January and awaited the monthly jobs report. In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department reported that fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, with jobless claims falling by 17,000 to 297,000. The government will release the November payrolls report Friday. In international economic news, comments from ECB President Mario Draghi threw cold water on hopes that the bank would begin a program of sovereign-debt purchases called quantitative easing. The central bank held interest rates at a record low. The dollar edged lower against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners. Light sweet crude oil for January delivery fell 98 cents to $66.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures dropped $1.00 to $1,207.70 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 12.52, or 0.07 percent, to 17,900.10. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 2.41, or 0.12 percent, to 2,071.92. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 5.04, or 0.11 percent, to 4,769.44.
