Stocks close little changed as stimulus negotiations drag on, unemployment data disappoints; European markets close lower as Brexit uncertainty weighs; ECB boosts stimulus;  
Stocks closed little changed on Thursday as lawmakers struggled to push through new fiscal stimulus before year-end. Sentiment was also dampened by the release of weaker-than-expected jobless claims data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 69.55 points, or 0.2%, at 29,999.26. The S&P 500 dipped 0.1% to 3,668.10. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed with a 0.5% gain, closing at 12,405.81 as Netflix and Apple each rose more than 1%. 
Initial weekly jobless claims jumped to 853,000 last week, topping a Dow Jones estimate of 730,000. That marks the highest number of initial claims being filed since September and the first time since October that they topped 800,000. 

European stocks closed lower Thursday as investors tracked the parlous state of Brexit trade talks, as well as fresh stimulus measures from the European Central Bank (ECB). The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down by 0.4%, with banks tumbling 2% to lead losses following the ECB’s latest policy decision, while the oil and gas sector bucked the negative trend to climb 1.5%. 
European Central Bank on Thursday expanded its massive monetary stimulus program by another 500 billion euros ($605 billion), taking its total value to 1.85 trillion euros and extending the time horizon for asset purchases until March 2022. 
In terms of individual share price movement, Hellofresh climbed nearly 15% after the German meal kit delivery company increased its full-year guidance on Wednesday. 

BELEX15 was down 1.2% as Komercijana and NIS lost 3.8% and 1.34%, respectively. The most active was NIS with RSD 5.9m in volume. 
At its meeting yesterday, the NBS Executive Board decided to ease monetary policy further and trim the key policy rate by 25 basis points, to 1%. By making such decision, the Executive Board is providing additional support to the domestic economy, having in mind the scale of the pandemic-induced crisis worldwide, renewed worsening of the epidemiological situation and economic slowdown globally, and especially in Europe. 
Source: CNBC, Ilirika