1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks end narrowly mixed amid soft data

U.S. stocks closed mixed amid roughly downbeat economic data Thursday, as Wall Street continued to digest Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's remarks on monetary policy in her testimonies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 10.15 points, or 0. 06 percent, to 18,214.42. The S&P 500 fell 3.12 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,110.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 20.75 points, or 0.42 percent, to 4,987.89.

Economic data came in generally negative. U.S. consumer prices in January posted their biggest drop since 2008 as gasoline prices continued to tumble, which could provide ammunition for the Fed to keep interest rates low a bit longer.

The Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers declined 0.7 percent in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday. Analysts had expected the figure to decline 0.6 percent. The core CPI, the key figure that excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent in January.

"Outside of the energy sector, consumer prices held up better than expected, though a year-on-year core inflation rate of 1.6 percent does little to inspire confidence in the Fed's 2 percent medium-term inflation forecast. If price declines continue, Yellen and company will find it very difficult to raise rates in the coming quarters," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims in the week ending Feb. 21 increased 31,000 from the previous week's revised level to 313,000, exceeding market expectations of 285,000, the Labor Department said Thursday before the opening bell.

However, new orders for manufactured durable goods in January increased 2.8 percent to 236.1 billion U.S. dollars, beating market consensus, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Investors were still sifting through Yellen's comments on monetary policy. She reiterated Wednesday that normalization of interest rates would begin when the committee is confident that inflation is on track to hit the central bank's inflation target of 2 percent growth, during her semi-annual testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services.

Overseas markets increased broadly Thursday. European equities posted modest gains as the German unemployment rate stayed at a record low in February, while Japan's benchmark Nikkei index rose over 1 percent to close at a near 15-year high. Endite