Stocks are indicated modestly lower on disappointing weekly jobless claims numbers and mixed earnings news Thursday. Forty-five minutes before the opening bell on Wall Street, index futures indicate that the Dow Jones Industrial Average might lose 15 or 20 points in early trading.

Stock index futures were holding modest gains until 8:30 eastern time, but then fell into the red when the Labor Department reported that filings for jobless benefits fell by 4,000 to 444,000 in the week ended May 8. Economists were looking for a decline to 440,000.

Stock index futures slipped on the data, bonds are modestly higher. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is up 4/32nd and yields 3.56 percent.

Meanwhile, the euro is continuing its recent slide, down another .0057 to 1.2571 against the dollar. The buck lost .45 to 92.76 against the Japanese yen.

Crude oil saw a swift $1 move lower beginning around 8:30 and was recently down $1.50 to $74.15 an ounce. Gold came off record highs and is down $4.30 to $1238.80 an ounce.

Meanwhile, in stock news, Cisco Systems (CSCO) is down 3 percent after the networking giant reported better than expected profits, but then issued cautious revenue guidance in the post-earnings conference call.

Kohl’s (KSS), Wendy’s (WEN) and Dryships (DRYS) are also seeing post-earnings weakness. Whole Foods (WFMI) is up 5 percent after profits topped Street estimates. US Steel (X) shares added 2.5 percent after Goldman Sachs added the name to its Conviction Buy List. Nordstrom (JWN), Nvidia (NVDA), and Computer Associates (CA) might see action today ahead of earnings, due out after the closing bell. JC Penney (JCP) releases results Friday morning.