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

U.S. stocks pared early losses to end fractionally mixed Thursday, as investors digested a batch of generally downbeat economic reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 13.14 points, or 0.08 percent, to 17,515.73. The S&P 500 edged down 0.77 point, or 0.04 percent, to 2,035.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 4.64 points, or 0.10 percent, to 4,773.50.

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.

Oil prices were also in focus, which shaved most of early losses to end slightly lower Thursday as traders digested the record-high stockpiles in the United States.

Overseas stock markets decreased broadly Thursday. European equities ended sharply lower on commodity slump. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange dropped 1.71 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index lost 1.49 percent.

In Asia, Chinese shares wobbled on Thursday, dragged down by financial heavyweights and breaching the 3,000-point psychological barrier. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.63 percent to close at 2,960.97 points.

On Friday, U.S. stock markets will be closed for Good Friday.

For the holiday-shortened week, the three major indices snapped a five-week winning streak to end modestly lower, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq falling 0.5 percent, 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. Endit