US stock markets were modestly lower on Thursday, with US unemployment data and a successful Spanish debt sale giving little direction to trade.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 68.65 points (0.53 per cent) to 12,964.10 at the close.

The broader S&P 500 was down 8.22 (0.59 per cent) to 1,376.92, while the Nasdaq was down 23.89 (0.79 per cent) to 3,007.56.

“A batch of better-than-expected earnings from a broad range of industry bellwethers had initially bolstered buying interest, but confidence was undermined when Europe’s major bourses moved lower in response to a drop by the euro,” said analysts at Briefing.com.

Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Verizon were all on the earnings block early Thursday.

McDonald’s was the Dow’s biggest loser, down 2.1 per cent. Verizon, which posted solid revenue thanks to iPhone business, was up 1.3 per cent.

Alcoa, Caterpillar, Bank of America and DuPont were all down more than one per cent.

The tone for the day was set early, as Spain raised around 2.5 billion euros ($US3.3 billion) in an issue of two- and 10-year bonds, beating its own target of 1.5-2.5 billion euros.

The rate for the 10-year issue was not as high as some had feared, failing to breach the psychologically important six per cent level, and demand outstripped supply by more than two-to-one.

But Madrid’s IBEX-35 leading stock index fell below 7,000 points for the first time in three years after the auction.

Meanwhile, in the United States, new claims for unemployment benefits inched lower last week.

The Labour Department reported 386,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week ended April 14, a decrease of 2,000 from the prior week.

US bond prices were flat. The yield on 10-year bonds was virtually unchanged at 1.95 per cent while the 30-year held at 3.11 per cent.

Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.