U.S. stocks slide after ECB leaves rates unchanged

U.S. stocks reversed early gains to trade lower around midday Thursday, as the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to keep its key interest rates unchanged.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 29.91 points, or 0.15 percent, to 19,774.81. The S&P 500 lost 3.54 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,268.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 3.75 points, or 0.07 percent, to 5,551.90.

At Thursday's meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00 percent, 0.25 percent and -0.40 percent respectively.

On the U.S. economic front, privately-owned housing starts in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,226,000, beating market consensus, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

This is 11.3 percent above the revised November rate of 1,102,000 and is 5.7 percent above the December 2015 rate of 1,160,000.

"The volatility in multi-family starts has been the cause of major fluctuations in the headline reading for the past four months. The biggest question facing the housing market in 2017 is how sales react to the jump in long-term interest rates, and will prices fall to adjust for the increased cost of financing," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, in the week ending Jan. 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 234,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

The 4-week moving average was 246,750, a decrease of 10,250 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since Nov. 3, 1973 when it was 244,000.

U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday, as investors digested remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, amid a batch of economic data. Enditem