Stocks slip amid economic gloom

Stocks recovered some lost ground but remained lower Thursday amid lingering disappointment about the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting, skepticism over the latest jobs report and concerns about the global economy.

A transcript of the Federal Reserve policy meeting, released Wednesday, showed that few members of the central bank's open-market committee favored additional stimulus at the June 19-20 meeting and suggested macro conditions would have to deteriorate much further in order to justify another round of quantitative easing.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) was down 31 points at 12,573 after recovering from a loss of more than 100 points in morning trading. The S&P 500 ($INX) was down 8 points at 1,334. The Nasdaq Composite ($COMPX) was down 29 points to 2,859.

"The minutes of the last FOMC basically told investors to get their rampant expectations of further quantitative policy firmly under control, because it is not happening anytime soon," said Paul Donavan, a global economist at UBS.

In economic news, the Labor Department said Thursday that initial jobless claims for the week ended July 7 fell to 350,000, the lowest levels since March 2008 and a decrease of 26,000 from an upwardly revised 376,000 in the preceding week. Economists had expected a decline to 372,000.

"We note that each summer, auto shutdowns give the government trouble, and the seasonals are very unreliable," said Dan Greenhaus, the chief global strategist at BTIG. "We absolutely do not believe this is a 'real' number."

"The improvement in claims was due in large part to seasonal factors, as there were fewer seasonal factory shutdowns than normal during the first week of July," said Millan Mulraine, a senior U.S. strategist at TD Securities. "This should be corrected in the coming weeks, and the level of claims should revert back to levels more consistent with the weak tone in labor market activity, possibly rising back to above the 370K level."

The four-week moving average was 376,500, a decrease of 9,750 from the previous week's average of 386,250.

Continuing claims for the week ended June 30 were 3.304 million, a decrease of 14,000 from the prior week's level of 3.318 million.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. import prices fell 2.7% in June after a 1.2% decrease in May. Lower prices for both fuel and nonfuel imports contributed to the overall decline. U.S. export prices fell 1.7% in June after a 0.4% drop the previous month.

The U.S. Treasury Department is expected to report at 2 p.m. that the U.S. government ran a $75 billion budget deficit June. The deficit was $43.1 billion the same time a year ago.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Stock index closed down 2.03% and the Nikkei settled behind by 1.48% amid fears of poor economic growth data from China at the end of the week and after the Bank of Japan decided to pursue only small adjustments to monetary easing. South Korean's central bank also slashed its lending rate in its first easing action in more than three years, highlighting its concerns about the economy.

The FTSE in London was falling 1.28% and the DAX in Germany was sliding 1.12% as global slowdown concerns flooded the markets and overshadowed better-than-expected​ eurozone industrial production data for May, which had risen.

Fastenal (FAST) reported fiscal-second-quarte​r earnings of $112.3 million, or 38 cents a share, on sales of $804.9 million. The average analyst estimate was for a profit of 37 cents a share in the June-ended period on revenue of $807.7 million.

Shares of SuperValu (SVU) were dropping sharply after the Minneapolis grocery store operator reported a quarterly profit below consensus and suspended its dividend, saying it's conducting a review of its strategic options. The company, which is seeking to reduce its debt load by between $450 million and $500 million in fiscal 2013, posted a profit of $41 million, or 19 cents a share, for its fiscal first quarter on sales of $10.6 billion. The average analyst estimate was for 38 cents a share on sales of $10.8 billion.

Callaway Golf (ELY) said late Wednesday it's cutting 12% of its global workforce as part of an effort to generate gross annual savings of $52 million. The golf equipment maker also said it expects to report a pro forma loss of 55 to 75 cents a share for fiscal 2012. Wall Street's current consensus estimate is for a loss of 21 cents a share for the full year.

It could be a rough session for Family Dollar (FDO) shares after Bank of America Merrill Lynch lowered its rating on the stock to "underperform" and dropped its 12-month price target to $60 from $71, citing rising concerns about the off-price retailer's strategy and execution abilities.

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