NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - It wasn't the old worries over war but new worries over the economy that had stocks cued for a lower open Thursday.

Already weighed down, stock index futures took a definitive turn into the red after the Labor Department reported that jobless claims for the week ended March 1 climbed to 430,000 from the prior week's 418,000. Economists had expected to see a decline to 403,000. The report raised the specter that Friday's February employment report, could come in poorly.

"We're going back down to yesterday's lows and see if they hold," said Todd Clark, managing director of listed trading at Wells Fargo Securities. "I think we're going back down to the October lows. The economic data doesn't support any aggressive buying."

In the latest Iraq developments, London's The Times reported that Britain is putting together an amendment to its and the United States' proposed U.N. resolution that would give Iraq a final deadline to disarm or face force.

That would, essentially, mean giving Iraq more time to comply. The U.N. Security Council is deadlocked on Iraq, and the U.K. amendment was seen as an attempt at compromise.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said its revised fourth-quarter productivity figure showed a rise to 0.8 percent, better than the previously reported 0.2 percent decline and better than the 0.2 percent gain economists expected.

Many of the nations retailers were releasing February same-store sales figures. Chief among them was Wal-Mart (WMT: Research, Estimates), whose sales represent nearly one tenth of U.S. non-auto sales. The company said that February sales at stores open at least a year rose 2.6 percent, at the lower end of its forecasts, due in part to the heavy snow storm in the East over the Presidents Day weekend.

At 10 a.m. ET, the Commerce Department will release its report on factory orders for January. They're expected to show a 1.8 percent gain, compared with a 0.4 percent rise in December.

The Dow Jones industrial average came up with a 0.9 percent advance Wednesday following two days of sharp losses. The Nasdaq composite index was 0.5 percent higher.

Asian stocks slipped Thursday amid continuing war fears and worries that the dollar will weaken exporters. Tokyo's Nikkei ended 1.2 percent lower and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.6 percent. For once the selling in Seoul, where North Korean concerns weigh heavily, was relatively muted: The Kospi dropped 0.9 percent.

The European Central Bank cut interest its key overnight rate by a quarter point to 2.5 percent, bringing regional rates down to their lowest level in over three years. That cost some consternation in European markets -- many traders had hoped that the ECB would cut rates by a half point. Most indexes shed early gains to fall into the red column.

London, which doesn't operate under the ECB's auspices, was an exception. There stocks were slightly higher after the Bank of England left rates on hold but suggested that more cuts could be in the offing.

Treasury prices fell in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield up to 3.64 percent from 3.63 percent late Wednesday.

The dollar was little changed.

Brent oil futures rose 46 cents to $32.46 a barrel in London, where gold retreated in early trading.

Shares of Dow component Boeing (BA: Research, Estimates) slid 2 percent in European trading after the company's satellite systems unit and Hughes Electronics (GMH: Research, Estimates) said late Wednesday they would pay a $32 million civil penalty arising from allegations the companies illegally shared sensitive space technology with China in the 1990s.