Wall Street struggled to make headway Thursday afternoon as traders worried about the latest economic and labor reports underscoring the depth of the U.S. recession.

Today’s Markets

As of 12:26 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 49.22 points, or 0.62%, to 7837.11, the S&P 500 sank 3.77 points, or 0.47%, to 839.62 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 11.66 points, or 0.68%, to 1634.85. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 dropped 1.42 points, or 0.23%, to 621.57.

The markets received a series of conflicting messages on Thursday. While Apple’s (AAPL: 125.8151, 4.3051, 3.54%) better-than-expected quarterly report gave Wall Street much-needed confidence Thursday, economic bellwether UPS (UPS: 53.0602, -1.6498, -3.02%) widely missed analysts’ estimates, an industry group said home resales tumbled last month and the government said continuing jobless claims soared to another record high amid the 17-month U.S. recession.

The bulls on Wall Street are struggling to send the markets to a rebound from Wednesday’s late slide, which torpedoed an earlier rally. The Dow’s six-week win streak is in doubt as the index is off by more than 200 points this week amid mixed earnings reports and fatigue from the best month and a half since 1938.

“I think people are most frightened by that UPS number,” NYSE trader Bernie McSherry of Cuttone & Co. told FOX Business.

Most of the Dow’s 30 components were in the red in recent action, led by General Motors (GM: 1.6, -0.0801, -4.77%), Home Depot (HD: 25.67, -0.44, -1.69%) and DuPont (DD: 27.1322, -0.6178, -2.23%). On the upside, American Express (AXP: 20.0928, 0.6928, 3.57%) and Bank of America (BAC: 8.46, 0.02, 0.24%) posted the benchmark index’s biggest percentage gains.

Hopes for clear signs of stabilization in the housing market were dashed by a new report from the National Association of Realtors, which showed existing home sales slid 3% in March to a weaker-than-expected rate of 4.57 million units. The group also said median prices sank 12% from a year ago to $200,100.

The markets were also hurt by the Labor Department’s weekly employment report, which showed initial jobless claims increased by 27,000 last week to 640,000, mostly in-line with estimates. The government also said the total number of people drawing unemployment benefits rose by 93,000 to 6.14 million — another all-time high.

Despite the very weak labor market, it’s apparent consumers are still willing to spend money on Apple’s (AAPL: 125.8151, 4.3051, 3.54%) premium goods. The tech giant said the most recent quarter was its best non-holiday quarter ever as Apple solidly beat the market’s expectations even without high-profile CEO Steve Jobs. However, the Nasdaq Composite slumped despite Apple and online auction site eBay’s (EBAY: 16.3, 1.5, 10.14%) solid quarterly results.

The positive news out of the tech sector was somewhat muted by concerns about how companies are dealing with the weakened economy. Those worries were underscored by transportation giant and economic barometer UPS, which reported a deeper-than-expected quarterly profit decline of 56%. UPS also said it does not expect the U.S. economy to recover until 2010 and a projected disappointing second-quarter profit.

Financial stocks were slightly higher Thursday following better-than-expected results from PNC Financial (PNC: 38.74, 0.86, 2.27%), Credit Suisse (CS: 37.77, 4.81, 14.59%) and SunTrust Banks (STI: 14.19, -1.23, -7.98%). After the closing bell financial giant American Express (AXP: 20.0928, 0.6928, 3.57%) is set to issue its quarterly results.

However, the markets remain nervous about the government-administered bank “stress tests” as the Treasury plans to release some of the results to banks on Friday. The tests are expected to show how much more capital banks need, if any, to protect against a further deterioration in the economy.

“I’m a little worried about the stress test data leaking out over the next few days,” said McSherry. “If we hear some bad data I think we can really see this market whither.”

In the commodity markets, crude oil was on pace to extend its two-day win streak despite Wednesday’s bearish inventory report. Crude was recently up 9 cents per barrel, or 0.18%, to $48.94. Gold rose $15.30 per ounce, or 1.71%, to $907.80.

Corporate Movers

Bank of America (BAC: 8.46, 0.02, 0.24%) CEO Ken Lewis told prosecutors he believed former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chief Ben Bernanke ordered him to be silent about deepening trouble at Merrill Lynch, The Wall Street Journal reported. “It wasn’t up to me” to disclose Merrill’s huge quarterly losses before shareholders approved the deal, Lewis reportedly told prosecutors. Regulators feared the deal’s collapse would harm the financial system.

General Motors (GM: 1.6, -0.0801, -4.77%) plans to idle most of its plants for about two months over the summer to cut costs and offset bloated inventories, the Journal reported. Also, the auto maker is nearing a deal to sell a majority stake in its Opel business to Italian car maker Fiat, German magazine Der Spiegel reported.

Chrysler LLC would have its debt reduced by 78% and give lenders a 5% equity stake based on a new counterproposal from the Treasury to lenders, the Journal reported. However, the two sides remain far apart as lenders, which include Citigroup (C: 3.17, 0.02, 0.63%) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM: 32.29, 0.45, 1.41%) had reportedly been looking for a 40% equity stake and to reduce Chrysler’s debt by just 35%.

Credit Suisse (CS: 37.77, 4.81, 14.59%) issued a first-quarter profit of $1.7 billion, doubling expectations. The second-largest Swiss bank was optimistic in its guidance.

PNC Financial (PNC: 38.74, 0.86, 2.27%) issued a quarterly profit of $1.03 per share, more than double what the Street was looking for. However, much of those gains came from its buyout of National City and the bank said nonperforming assets soared by 60% and it set aside $880 million for credit losses, up from $151 million a year ago.

SunTrust Banks (STI: 14.19, -1.23, -7.98%) disclosed a quarterly loss of $2.49 per share but its non-GAAP loss of 46 cents per share topped the Street’s view. The southeast regional bank said its loan-loss provisions soared by 78% to $994.1 million and net charge-offs more than doubled to $610.1 million.

Coca-Cola (KO: 42.88, -0.05, -0.12%) is in negotiations to take a possible minority interest in Chinese juice maker Huiyuan Juice Group, according to the Journal. Coca-Cola tried to purchase the company for $2.4 billion last month, but the deal was shot down by Chinese regulators, who cited antimonopoly rules.

NYSE Euronext (NYX: 22.82, 2.38, 11.64%), the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, is in advanced talks with Deutsche Boerse over a merger that would create the largest stock market operator in the world, a German magazine reported. A merger could reportedly come as soon as next month.

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB: 3.8, 0.11, 2.98%) disclosed a quarterly loss of 22 cents per share, surprising analysts who had expected a deeper loss of 28 cents.

Black & Decker (BDK: 35.51, 2.5, 7.57%) saw its shares slide even after the manufacturer posted a 93% drop in profit and cut its outlook. Still, the company’s adjusted-profit of 22 cents per share exceeded estimates and it said its full-year profit could still top expectations.

AutoNation (AN: 16.82, 1.43, 9.29%) said its quarterly profit slid 32% but the results beat the Street. The company also said it sees auto sales improving during the second half of the year.

Radioshack (RSH: 12.14, 1.35, 12.51%) reported a profit of 34 cents a share, 12 cents better than expectations. The electronic retailer’s stock soared as it said same-store sales rose 5% during the quarter thanks in part to sales of its digital converter boxes.

News Corp. (NWS: 8.55, -0.19, -2.17%) plans to replace MySpace founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson with former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta as the company’s CEO, the Journal reported. The social-networking site’s founders stepped aside months before their contracts were set to expire, the newspaper reported. The Journal and FOX Business are both owned by News Corp.

Global Markets

In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.8% to 4063.01 while Paris’ CAC 40 rallied 0.58% to 3042.89 and Germany’s DAX fell 0.08% to 4590.80.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.37% to 8847.01 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.26% to 15214.46. China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.1% to 2463.95.