Thursday

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell short of closing above 12,000, as mixed economic data and corporate earnings left the market struggling to find direction. Today's pairing of a better-than-expected reading of pending sales of existing homes, coupled with a surprisingly large jump in jobless claims didn't add clarity to the economic outlook. In other markets, the U.S. dollar strengthened against the yen after Japan's long-term credit rating was cut, but the currency weakened against the euro, which was boosted by the subdued U.S. economic data. DJIA +4.39 Nasdaq +15.78 S&P 500 +2.91.