U.S. stocks closed lower Thursday, following downbeat U.S. economic reports that overshadowed encouraging signs out of corporate America and Europe. In U.S. economic news, first-time unemployment claims dropped but were higher than what analysts had expected. Meanwhile, existing home sales fell 2.6 percent, which signaled that the housing market still is not recovery fully. The Philadelphia Fed regional manufacturing index also lost ground, as it came in below expectations. Bank of America announced before trading opened that its quarterly net income had declined sharply versus last year, but the drop came after an accounting adjustment of almost $5 billion. After factoring out non-operating expenses, the company's earnings more than doubled from a year ago. In international economic news, investors were mildly relieved that an auction of Spanish 10-year bonds drew strong demand. Still, Spain released a relatively low volume of bonds, which helped to ensure that demand. The dollar gained against the euro and the yen, but fell against the pound. Light sweet crude oil for May delivery dropped 40 cents to $102.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $1.80 to $1,640.60 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 68.65, or 0.53 percent, to 12,964.10. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 8.22, or 0.59 percent, to 1,376.92. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index declined 23.89, or 0.79 percent, to 3,007.56.
