US stocks fall despite positive retail sales data

US stock indices fell in early trading on Thursday, despite the release of positive retail sales data.

The US Department of Labor revealed that the number of initial unemployment claims was at 332K last week from 325K, lower than forecasts of 332K.

The US retail sales index rose 0.7% in August, beating forecasts of a drop by 0.7%.

The core retail sales reading (excluding food and fuel prices) rose 1.8%, beating forecasts of a drop by 0.1%.

As for stocks, Dow Jones fell 0.5% or 166 points to 34,654 as of 14:24 GMT, and S&P 500 fell 0.6% or 26 points to 4,454, while Nasdaq fell 0.6% or 89 point to 15,072.