U.S. stocks open lower on Greek uncertainty

U.S. stocks opened lower Thursday as investors continued to weigh on negotiations over Greece's bailout.

Germany rejected a request from Greece on Thursday to extend its loan agreement with eurozone creditors, saying the Greek proposal did not meet previous agreed criteria decided by the Eurogroup on Monday.

Earlier on Thursday, Greece submitted a request to the Euro Working Group for a six-month extension of the four-year bailout loan agreement in a bid to receive vital financial aid from the eurozone after the end of the current bailout period on Feb. 28 until it renegotiates with partners.

U.S. weekly jobless claims missed analysts' expectations. In the week ending Feb. 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 283,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, said U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

Wall Street also continued to digest minutes of the Fed's January policy meeting released Wednesday, which showed that more Fed officials leaned toward keeping rates at zero "for a longer time" than wanted an earlier move. Many said a premature rate hike would harm the recovery, while only several thought a later move would risk high inflation.

In corporate news, Wal-Mart reported adjusted earnings that beat estimates and revenue that missed expectations. Shares declined 2.57 percent in the early trading.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 102.30 points, or 0.57 percent, to 17,927.55. The S&P 500 reduced 8.83 points, or 0.42 percent, to 2,090.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 5.5 points, or 0.11 percent, to 4,900.81.

U.S. stocks managed to close mixed after wavering below flatline in most of session Wednesday, as investors were weighing dovish Federal Reserve minutes against soft economic data. Endite