Wall Street weighed down by Europe bank worries U.S. stocks slipped Thursday, pressured by worries over European banks' finances. The concern was tempered by good news about the domestic job market, however. New claims for unemployment benefits fell, government data showed, and private sector hiring surged in December, according to a survey by ADP. The data may affect market expectations for Friday's closely watched nonfarm payrolls data for December. The figures often set the market's tone for a week or two after their release. The expectation is that the U.S. economy generated around 150,000 jobs during December. Positive economic news propelled U.S. stocks to a big rally on Tuesday. Those gains held Wednesday as automakers reported strong sales in December. Shares of bookseller/Nook seller Barnes & Noble dropped 27 percent in early trade after the company announced it was mulling splitting off its Nook e-reader business. But Europe's debt crisis remained the key driver of market sentiment. Stock markets in London, Germany and France have all declined. The euro has dropped to a 15-month low against the dollar. The concern in the markets has centered on the state of Europe's banks following UniCredit's announcement Wednesday that it was selling new shares at a 69 percent discount to Tuesday's closing price. Banks are an integral part of the debt crisis because they hold government bonds. A default or steep fall in the value of government bonds could inflict heavy losses on banks and choke off credit to the European economy. That's why regulatory authorities want Europe's banks to raise their buffers by 115 billion euros ($149 billion) over the next few months. The worry in the markets is that banks will have to offer sharp discounts to raise the funds. European stocks fell, though most indexes remained higher for the year so far. Germany's DAX was down 0.7 percent at 6,066 while the CAC-40 fell 1 percent to 3,163. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.7 percent lower at 5,629. Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.8 percent to close at 8,488.71. South Korea's Kospi index lost 0.1 percent at 1,863.74, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.5 percent to 18,813.41. Benchmarks in Singapore and Taiwan were also higher. Mainland China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 1 percent to 2,148.45, its lowest level in almost three years. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 3.5 percent to 813.99. More than 100 companies plunged to the daily limit of 10 percent.