US Shares Near Flat On Europe Concerns

US shares held near unchanged Thursday as concern about what’s ahead for Europe’s economy dampened cheer that came with better-than-expected data on the American labor front.

Jobless claims fell to 365,000 last week, with the report coming a day before the Labor Department’s jobs report for April. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast claims would fall to 378,000.

Worry about Europe came as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the economic outlook for the euro region remained at risk as the sovereign-debt crisis threatened growth. The ECB kept its benchmark rate at 1%, as expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.30% rose 9.84 points to 13,278.41.

The S&P 500 Index SPX -0.34% tilted fractionally higher to 1,402.35.

The Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.35% was down nearly 2 points at 3,058.29.