NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global stocks fell on Thursday as early gains faded, continuing the year-end downdraft into the first trading day of the new year, while the dollar hit a two-year high after economic data indicated the U.S. labor market remained on solid ground. On Wall Street, U.S. stocks closed broadly lower after initial gains failed to hold, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notching their fifth straight daily decline, the longest skid since April. The U.S. Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits dropped to an eight-month low of 211,000 last week, below the 222,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters.