Concern over the direction of the U.S. economy kept U.S. traders at the crossroads Thursday.

The major indices failed to capture any momentum after losing ground early, erasing those losses, but then limping towards the close.

Overseas markets ended lower adding more uncertainty to the situation.

"Any time you have a pullback like today, it's going to look like a very good entry point," Craig Ellis, managing director of Caris & Company in San Francisco told Reuters Thomson. "Investors have shown a lot of interest in adding to well-positioned, big-named stocks, but were looking for a good entry point."

At the close of trading Thursday the Dow Jones industrials were down 30.72 points or 0.29% at 10,467.16.

The Nasdaq Composite was off 12.87 points or 0.57% at 2,251.69.

The Standard and Poor's 500 was down 4.60 points or 0.42% at 1,101.53.

The U.S. dollar was mixed, losing ground to the euro and Swiss franc but holding steady against the other majors.

Around the New York close Thursday the euro was trading at 1.3076 after hitting a 12-week high earlier of 1.3106.

The Swiss franc rallied to 1.0412, while the British pound was off a touch at 1.5612.

The Australian dollar edged down to .9006 as lower inflation figures earlier in the week punctured expectations of an imminent interest rate rise.

The Canadian dollar held its ground against the dollar, last trading at 1.0354.