U.S. Stock Pare Gains, Stay Above 50-day Average

U.S. stocks fell for a sixth day but pared losses in afternoon trade Thursday amid reports of activist shareholder Bill Ackman building a stake in consumer products company Procter & Gamble

. The Dow Jones Industials slipped back into negative territory after briefly posting a again in afternoon trade. The string of consecutive declines have yet to result in oversold conditions, however; the NYSE McClellan Oscillator, closely watched by technical analysts, remains in slightly overbought territory, with a latest reading of 7. Market breadth was weak, as was volume. Decliners outpaced advancers by a 60% to 30% ratio, with about 10% of shares unchanged. With an hour left to trade, the S&P stood at 1337, rallying back above its 50-day moving average and above trendline support near 1335. The U.S. dollar index made fresh year highs with the euro reaching new two-year lows intraday, possibly putting additional pressure on U.S. multinationals during earnings season. The rising dollar also reflected the markets read on Wednesday's FOMC minutes: additional quantitative easing does not appear imminent. Some market participants have been looking to additional government intervention as a potential catalyst for riskier currencies, as well as stocks. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said there are now more headwinds facing the U.S. economy than there were a year earlier, and that he remains in a holding pattern on where it is headed next. “Europe is really, it's headed downward in the last … six weeks or so,” Buffett said in a CNBC interview. “It wasn't going that way before. It wasn't doing that well, but it hadn't really hit the skids.” P&G shares were among the strongest S&P 500 gainers, up 4% in afternoon trade, pacing slight gains for the SPDR Consumer Staples ETF

The FTC granted two entities of Ackman's Pershing Square Capital antitrust approval for two transactions related to P&G; details were not disclosed. Pershing has built positions in other public companies in the past using derivatives that convert to common stock. First-time unemployment claims were their lowest since March 2008, based on data released Thursday morning; it did not ignite much optimism, although the data did not ignite an intraday rally. Lower claims were explained away partially by fewer auto sector layoffs than normal and other one-time events. Stocks on the move included Supervalu

, down more than 40% in afternoon trading after it missed earnings, suspended its dividend and said it was reviewing strategic options. Marriott International

fell after it cut its growth outlook outside North America. JP Morgan (JPM) shares fell about 1%, ahead of earnings expected Friday morning.