U.S. stocks open lower ahead of New Year's Day

U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday, the last trading day of 2015, as investors digested the worse-than-expected initial jobless claims.

In the week ending Dec. 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims increased from the previous week's unrevised level of 267,000 to 287,000, well above market consensus of 270,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 277,000, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 272,500.

Meanwhile, in a light week of economic reports, the volatility in oil prices was also in focus. Oil prices had witnessed some big swings recently as they were traded near multi-year lows.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 101.15 points, or 0.57 percent, to 17,502.72. The S&P 500 lost 10.40 points, or 0.50 percent, to 2,052.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 22.37 points, or 0.44 percent, to 5,043.48.

The U.S. stock markets will be closed on Friday for New Year's Day.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks retreated as oil prices tumbled again after solid gains.

Overseas, China's stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index going down 0.94 percent to close at 3,529.18 points, as investors were cautious over the impending end of a six-month ban on share sales.

For the year, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 9.4 percent despite wild fluctuations in the summer and a drop on the final day of the year. Endi