NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks posted modest losses in early trading Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi hinted that the bank is ready to back a big monetary stimulus, but will be waiting until next year. The ECB decided to keep its main interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.05 percent. Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, expects a program of sovereign debt purchases to be launched in January. Following some solid economic data on Wednesday from private payrolls firm ADP, economists expect that employers added 225,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate slipped to 5.7 percent from 5.8 percent. Barnes & Noble bought out Microsoft's stake in the Nook for $120 million in cash and stock, freeing the company to spin off its Nook business down the road.