NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks opened lower Thursday, following two manufacturing reports that showed further slowing in China and Europe.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ slipped between 0.4% and 0.5%.
Manufacturing hit a nine-month low in China and contracted across the eurozone for the seventh month in a row.
Investors will be keeping tabs on Europe as French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet to discuss Greece. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has reportedly been pushing for a two-year extension of the country's bailout program.
Investors also parsed through the latest reading on the U.S. labor market, with a report on unemployment claims showing a surprise increase for the latest week.
Wall Street trading volume is expected to stay light for the rest of August. U.S. stocks ended mixed Wednesday, as minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting sparked hope for further stimulus measures.
The minutes show the central bank is considering two key measures to boost the U.S. economy. Investors are likely to stay focused on the Fed, with attention on the Kansas City Fed's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo. next week.
World Markets: European stocks turned mixed in afternoon trading. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.1%, while the DAX in Germany and France's CAC 40 both ticked down about 0.8%.
Asian markets ended higher. The Shanghai Composite ticked up 0.3%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.2%, and Japan's Nikkei rose 0.5%.
Economy: The Labor Department released its weekly report on first-time unemployment claims Thursday, revealing an increase to 372,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 368,000. That was more than the 365,000 that economists had expected.
New-home sales figures from the Census Bureau are due at 10 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect sales rose to an annual rate of 368,000 in July from 350,000 in June.
Companies: Shares of Big Lots (BIG, Fortune 500) suffered when the market opened, falling nearly 20%. The closeout retailer reports quarterly results Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, shares of computer maker Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500) tumbled nearly 8%. HP reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings after the close Wednesday, but issued disappointing sales and revenue forecasts.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar lost ground against the euro, but edged slightly higher against the British pound and the Japanese yen.
Oil for October delivery gained 20 cents to $97.45 a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery rose 10 cents to $1,616.50 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury slid, pushing the yield up to 1.72% from 1.69% late Wednesday.
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