Dow Jones Industrial Average Down Slightly As Traders Measure Global Currents

A day after the Nasdaq composite closed at a record high with a surge in technology stocks, U.S. financial markets followed European and Asian exchanges downward Thursday as traders continue to sell risky assets and commodities and try to interpret the significance of a plummeting stock market in China and increased uncertainty over Greece's flirtation with bankruptcy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) was down 65.70 points, or 0.36 percent, to 18,097.29 Thursday morning. The Standard & Poor's 500 (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) dropped 6.29 points, or 0.30 percent, to reach 2,117.21. The Nasdaq composite (INDEXSP:.INX) lost 12.31 points, or 0.24 percent, to hit 5,094.49. The Nasdaq closed at an all-time high on Wednesday.

Major European markets were headed to a red close on Thursday, with London, Frankfurt and Paris all down less than 1 percent. Tokyo’s Nikkei closed up slightly, while Hong Kong caught the flu from the mainland, dropping 2.23 percent to 27,454 after stocks in Shanghai’s stock market plummeted more than 7 percent, the second-biggest drop of the year after Jan. 19.

U.S. stocks rebounded Wednesday after the biggest selloff of the month on Tuesday following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen before the Memorial Day holiday. Yellen said delaying action to tighten the central bank's monetary policy would risk overheating the economy.

Energy, telecommunications and basic materials stocks were leading declines in the U.S. early in the day Thursday.

Irvine, California, semiconductor maker Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM) and Singapore’s Avago Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO) were both down Thursday after leaping on news that the Asian maker of semiconductors used in iPhones and other gadgets bought its American rival. But both companies’ stocks are trading above where they were priced before the merger was announced.

Meanwhile, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) shares soared 10 percent to $21.61 after the troubled Ohio-based retailer reported a wider loss than expected and missed on revenue. But the retailer said its turnaround plan is working and that it expected sales to improve for the rest of the year. Longtime CEO Michael Jeffries was ousted earlier this year and the company has embarked on a reinvention. Shares are down nearly 25 percent for the year and investors bought on the expectation the stock is near or through its worst.

Membership warehouse retailer Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) was down 0.61 percent to $144.53 after it missed on same-stores sales, a key measure of a retailer’s health.

Stocks have been wavering this week as investors digest the prospect of the first Federal Reserve interest rate hike in nine years coming as early as September. On Friday, the U.S. will release its revised its first-quarter gross domestic product growth, which is expected to be lowered from 0.2 percent to 1 percent.

Oil futures slipped Thursday on expectations that U.S. supplies remain high. West Texas Intermediate for July delivery dropped 1.34 percent to $56.74. In London, Brent crude for July delivery fell 0.87 percent to $61.52.