U.S. stocks decline on soft data

U.S. stocks traded lower in the morning session Thursday, as investors digested a batch of generally downbeat economic reports.

By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 62.91 points, or 0.36 percent, to 17,439.68. The S&P 500 dipped 8.92 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,027.79. The Nasdaq Composite Index inched down 12.24 points, or 0.26 percent, to 4,756.62.

U.S. new orders for manufactured durable goods in February decreased 6.6 billion U.S. dollars, or 2.8 percent, to 229.4 billion dollars, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Thursday.

"In January, it appeared orders were bottoming. In February, in part thanks to revisions, the rebound is gone. Manufacturing, it seems, will continue to struggle for a time," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, in the week ending March 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims increased 6,000 from the previous week's revised level to 265,000, roughly in line with market expectations, U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 259,750, an increase of 250 from the previous week's revised average.

The continued decline in oil prices also weighed on market sentiment. Oil prices extended losses Thursday, with both U.S. oil and Brent crude tumbling about 2 percent around midday, dented by record-high stockpiles in the United States.

U.S. crude supplies gained 9.4 million barrels to 532.5 million barrels last week, 65.9 million barrels more than one year before, according to the weekly report released by the Energy Information Administration Wednesday.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks ended lower as a renewed decline in oil prices weighed on Wall Street. Endit