U.S. stocks slide amid economic data

U.S. stocks wavered and closed lower on Thursday, as investors digested a batch of newly-released economic reports and awaited a key speech from U.S. Federal Reserve's Chair Janet Yellen.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 33.07 points, or 0.18 percent, to 18,448.41. The S&P 500 was down 2.97 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,172.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 5.49 points, or 0.11 percent, to 5,212.20.

On the economic front, new orders for manufactured durable goods in July increased 9.7 billion U.S. dollars or 4.4 percent to 228.9 billion dollars, according to the U.S. Commerce Department Thursday.

"Volatile components aside, this was an encouraging report," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial.

In the week ending Aug. 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 261,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week' s unrevised level, said the U.S Labor Department Thursday.

Meanwhile, traders kept a close eye on Yellen's speech for more clues on the timing of the next interest rate hike. She is scheduled to deliver a speech Friday on the U.S. economy and monetary policy at the Economic Policy Symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Some Fed officials' hawkish comments have strengthened market expectations that the central bank might raise interest rate later this year.

"The chances of a market moving headline leaking out ahead of the Fed Chair's speech tomorrow morning would be quite sloppy," said Stephen Guilfoyle, chief market economist at Stuart Frankel & Co., on Thursday.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, increased 1.34 percent to end at 13.63 on Thursday.

Oil prices ended higher Thursday as traders buy the dip after previous day's big losses. Endit