U.S. stocks closed mixed Thursday as investors eyed options expirations and weighed the Federal Reserve (Fed) statement that indicated a rate hike would come gradually. In U.S. economic news, weekly jobless claims rose slightly to 291,000 for the week ended March 14. The national current account deficit widened sharply in the fourth quarter to the largest level since 2012. Leading indicators rose 0.2 percent, in-line with estimates. In international economic news, Greece remains in the foreground, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in continuing debt negotiations. Greek bond yields jumped on news that the European Central Bank was considering curbs on Greek bank purchases of government debt In corporate news, Apple officially began trading as a member of the Dow, replacing AT&T in the index as Visa's 4-for-1 stock split took effect. Facebook closed up more than 2 percent, on pace for the stock's best weekly gain in five months. On Tuesday, the social media company announced that it will roll out a money-sending function on its Messenger app. The dollar recovered some of its recent losses as the euro fell to trade just above $1.06. Light sweet crude oil for April delivery dropped 70 cents to $43.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold futures added $17.70 to $1,169 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 117.16, or 0.65 percent, to 17,959.03. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 10.23, or 0.49 percent, to 2,089.27. The Nasdaq composite index rose 9.55, or 0.19 percent, to 4,992.38.
