U.S. stocks closed lower Thursday, s investors awaited President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. In U.S. economic news, weekly jobless claims dropped 15,000 to 234,000, around their lowest levels in 40 years. Housing starts, meanwhile, spiked 11.3 percent in December, beating estimates. In international economic news, the European Central Bank (ECB) kept monetary policy unchanged. The euro briefly fell versus the dollar after ECB President Mario Draghi said in a news conference there is no sign of a convincing upward trend in underlying inflation. In corporate news, Bank of New York Mellon and Union Pacific were among the companies reporting before the bell, with Dow components IBM and American Express set to report after the close. Video streaming giant Netflix saw its shares rose 3.8 percent, having posted solid results on strong subscriber growth. The dollar rose against a basket of currencies. Light sweet crude oil for February delivery added 31 cents to $51.39 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold futures lost $10.60 to $1,201.50 per ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 72.32, or 0.37 percent, to 19,732.40. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 8.20, or 0.36 percent, to 2,263.69. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index declined 15.57, or 0.28 percent, to 5,540.08.
