Pared earlier losses

The market closed in negative territory, after clawing back from much steeper losses in the last hour of trading. Leaders at the two-day EU summit in Brussels are faced with the daunting task of coming up with a concrete solution. Trading was largely driven by speculation and rumors. Fears of a global slowdown also sparked a steep sell-off in oil prices, which ended the day down more than 3%.  Weekly jobless claims dropped slightly more than expected. The market is set to open higher on positive news from Europe.