Stocks slip on concerns about no stimulus deal and more Covid restrictions to come

Wall Street opened sharply lower but has since pulled back from their lows.

In the early afternoon, the Dow was down only 0.1%, or about 18 points, while the S&P 500 -- the broadest measure of the US stock market -- was down 0.3%.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8%.

It's looking to be the third straight day of losses for the three indexes.

European stocks fared even worse, and ended the session deep in the red. The FTSE in London closed 1.7% lower and Germany's DAX finished down 2.5%. Various European cities rolled out renewed restrictions to limit the spread of the pandemic after the continent saw rapidly increasing infection numbers.

Back in the United States, investors are still keeping fingers crossed for another stimulus deal before the presidential election in a mere 19 days.

But it doesn't look good. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday although Democrats and Republicans "continue to make progress on certain issues," the two sides "still remain far apart" on others.

On top of that, investors got a mixed bag of economic data Thursday morning.

First-time jobless claims rose and more people moved onto benefit programs designed to bridge the gap after regular aid rolls off.

Meanwhile, the New York Federal Reserve Bank's manufacturing index came in far lower than expected, while the Philadelphia Fed's business index beat expectations.