North American stock closed lower Thursday, despite the release of positive U.S. jobs data, and strong retail sector earnings. The S&P/TSX composite index slipped 18.74 points at 8,699.09.

Markets had found strength from the latest reading on new claims for U.S. unemployment benefits, which fell last week by 24,000 to 344,000.

Nortel Networks declined 56¢ to $10.24, dragging the TSX information technology index lower

Nortel rival Ciena is buying Catena Networks, a privately held Ottawa maker of equipment to enable phone companies to provide broadband Internet access, for US$486.7 million in Ciena stock.

The TSX got support from industrial stocks.

Bombardier climbed 8¢ to $6.73. Canadian National Railway advanced 80¢ to $53.70 as talks continued in an effort to head off a strike Friday.

The junior S&P/TSX venture composite index edged up 3.25 points to 1,924.05.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 7.26 points to 10,664.73.

Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores said its quarterly profit came in at US$2.7 billion compared with US$2.51 billion a year ago as sales rose 12% to US$74.5 billion. Wal-Mart shares advanced $1.18 to $58.38.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gave up 30.51 points to 2,045.96 while the broader S&P 500 lost 4.77 to 1,147.05.

The Canadian dollar slipped 0.32¢ to US75.16¢. The loonie’s latest dip came despite a 0.6% increase in Statistics Canada composite leading indicator.

The U.S. Conference Board’s index of leading indicators, meanwhile, advanced 0.5%, suggesting the American economy will expand in coming months.

In other economic news, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported manufacturing in the region fell short of expectations. The Philly Fed’s activity index fell to 31.4 from 38.8 in January — analysts had expected a reading of 35.0.