NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Thursday after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi failed to announce concrete plans to help solve Europe's debt crisis.
Investors were left disappointed by the ECB, one day after the Federal Reserve also stopped short of offering a fresh round of stimulus.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 100 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were also 0.7% lower.
After the Federal Reserve refrained from taking new action to jumpstart the economy, investor hopes were high that Draghi would announce some form of new action after he pledged last week that the ECB would do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro.
But Draghi's comments echoed previous remarks, and didn't present any material changes in policy action.
"Once again, we have no commitment to action from the ECB, and no execution of promises previously made," said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. "Nothing seems set to happen now."
Investors have been speculating that the central bank may implement further buying of Italian and Spanish bonds to help stem the region's debt crisis.
Prior to Draghi's strong signals last week that the ECB will act, the Spanish 10-year yield reached a euro-area high of 7.65%, while Italy's 10-year yield hovered above 6%. The borrowing costs in both countries have eased since then but still remain high.
On Thursday, Spain's government borrowed €3.1 million, more than its target of €3 million, but it had to pay higher interest rates than the prior month. Spain's 10-year sold at an average rate of 6.65%, up from 6.43% in July.
On the domestic front, investors will be taking in reports on job cuts, initial jobless claims and factory orders.
While economic data took a backseat Thursday, investors are gearing up for the government's highly-anticipated monthly jobs report due Friday morning.
A CNNMoney survey of economists predicts that the economy added 95,000 jobs in July -- that includes 105,000 job gains in the private sector and 10,000 job losses in the public sector. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at 8.2%.
U.S. stocks edged lower Wednesday after the Fed left its economic policies unchanged, dampening hopes for more stimulus measures.
World markets: European stocks all turned lower in late afternoon trading following Draghi's remarks. Britain's FTSE 100 was down nearly 1%, while the DAX in Germany and France's CAC 40 each dropped more than %.
As expected, the Bank of England held its key interest rate at a record low of 0.5% and left its bond-buying program target unchanged at £375 billion ($585 billion).
Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.6% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.7%, while Japan's Nikkei edged higher 0.1%.
Economy: The number of people filing initial unemployment claims rose 8,000 to 365,000 in the latest week, according to the Labor Department, in line with economists' expectations.
Planned jobs cuts fell 45% in July to a 15-month low, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
At 10 a.m. ET, the Census Bureau will release data on June factory orders, which are expected to have increased by 0.6%.
Companies: Knight Capital Group's (KCG) stock plunged 50% after the company said it would report a $440 million pre-tax loss due to a "technology issue" at the trading firm Wednesday that led to a series of bizarre moves in the market.
General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) shares were down slightly even after the auto delivered quarterly earnings of $1.5 billion, topping forecasts, despite "headwinds" in Europe.
Shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) jumped after the company reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations. The company also announced plans to buy back up to $500 million in shares.
Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) tumbled after the teen retailer slashed its forecast for the year, citing weakness in Europe.
First Solar's (FSLR) stock was solidly higher after the company posted an 82% jump in second-quarter profit.
Shares of Sony (SNE) were down sharply after the company posted a wider loss compared to last year and cut its outlook for the year.
Shares of online review site Yelp (YELP) advanced after the company reported quarterly results that showed solid revenue growth and a smaller-than-expected net loss.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar rose against the euro, but was lower versus the British pound and the Japanese yen.
Oil for September delivery sank $1.71 to $87.20 a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery fell $13.10 to $1,590.60 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, pushing the down to 1.48% from 1.54% late Wednesday.
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