NEW YORK — The stock market posted slight losses Thursday after European Central Bank officials decided to delay any stimulus for the struggling continent until next year. Investors also braced for the release of Friday’s closely watched U.S. jobs report.
Stocks had been solidly lower much of the day but did recover some of their losses after news outlets reported that the ECB would consider a large stimulus package for next month.
Earlier comments from ECB President Mario Draghi initially were interpreted to mean the bank wouldn’t act until next year, but by late Thursday consensus was building that stimulus was imminent.
“The ECB and Draghi basically said, ‘We don’t know what we are doing yet, but when we do it next month, it’s going to be big,’ ” said Ian Winer, head of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 12.52 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,900.10. It was down nearly 100 points earlier in the day.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 2.41 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,071.92, and the Nasdaq composite fell 5.04 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,769.44.
Energy stocks were among the hardest-hit. The S&P 500’s energy sector lost nearly 1 percent as the price of oil sank yet again. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 57 cents to close at $66.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on news that Saudi Arabia reduced its January prices to U.S. and Asian customers. Brent crude fell 28 cents to close at $69.64 on the ICE Futures exchange.
Bloomberg News reported that ECB officials are considering a large bond-purchasing program that will include European government debt, citing unnamed central bank figures.
