Roundup: U.S. stocks end lower amid upbeat data, Greece concerns

U.S. stocks shaved early gains to close mildly lower on Thursday, as investors weighed positive economic data against the uncertainty of Greek debt crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 75.71 points, or 0.42 percent, to 17,890.36. The S&P 500 lost 6.27 points, or 0.30 percent, to 2,102.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 10.22 points, or 0.20 percent, to 5,112.19.

U.S. personal income went up 79 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.5 percent, and disposable personal income rose 65.5 billion dollars, or 0.5 percent, in May, said the Department of Commerce Thursday.

Personal consumption expenditures soared 105.9 billion dollars, or 0.9 percent, in May, the largest gain in nearly six years.

"Before this morning's release, Q2 consumer spending growth was tracking 2 percent. Now, consumption growth looks like 3.1 percent. Our back-of the envelope estimate for Q2 GDP is now 2 percent," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, in the week ending June 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 271,000, an increase of 3, 000 from the previous week's revised level, below market consensus, the Labor Department announced Thursday.

Overseas, the leaders of states and governments of the European Union (EU) gathered here Thursday as a parallel crucial Eurogroup meeting on Greece ended abruptly without a deal.

Eurozone finance ministers met earlier on Thursday for their fourth meeting in a week, attempting once again to strike a deal on a package of Greek economic reforms to unlock bailout funds for Athens.

Hopes of a breakthrough dimmed again when the ministers' meeting ended abruptly again.

"No Eurogroup agreement in sight on Greece. Eurogroup meeting has been indefinitely suspended," an EU official said.

With no agreement yielded this afternoon, the focus shifts to the EU leaders who pledged to finalize the process within the week.

Time is running out for Greece and creditors to reach a deal before Greece has to repay a 1.6-billion-euro loan to the IMF by the end of this month.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, increased 5.66 percent to end at 14.01 Thursday.

In other markets, oil prices lost as U.S. near-record oil production weighed on the market.

The U.S. benchmark, the West Texas Intermediate for August delivery moved down 57 cents to settle at 59.7 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The global benchmark, Brent crude for August delivery decreased 29 cents to close at 63.2 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.

The U.S. dollar dropped against most major currencies despite positive economic data from the country.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1203 dollars from 1.1202 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 123.61 Japanese yen, lower than 123.84 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell slightly as Greek debt talks continued ahead of the June 30 deadline. This is the fifth straight session decline of gold since Friday.

The most active gold contract for August delivery lost 1.1 dollars, or 0.09 percent, to settle at 1,171.80 dollars per ounce. Endite