US open: Miners, oil stocks weaker as futures reel
Investors on Wall Street are playing it safe ahead of the monthly US jobs report due out tomorrow, amid sharp falls in crude oil and iron ore futures.
At 1709 BST the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by 0.24% to 20,906.21, with the S&P slipping 0.13% alongside it to 2,384.75 and the Nasdaq Composite off by 0.12% to 6,065.27.
Shares in non-ferrous metals names were the worst performers on the NYSE, moving down by 5.50%, together with a 3.12% drop for Aluminium.
Overnight, spot iron ore prices at the Chinese port of Tianjin fell from $67.2 a metric tonne to $62.0.
Linked to the above, Caixin's widely-followed survey of activity in China's services sector for the month of April retreated from a reading of 51.2 for March to 50.3 for April (consensus: 51.3).
Weighing on stocks as well, front month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were down by a steep 4.48% to $45.77 a barrel on the ICE.
Unsurprisingly, the Pipelines and Exploration and Production sectors were near the bottom of the leaderboard too, falling by 3.64% and 3.47%, respectively.
In the background, investors were digesting the latest policy announcement and statement from the Federal Reserve.
On Wednesday, the Fed left interest rates on hold, as widely expected, although the odds of an interest rate hike at the central bank's June meeting rose to 94% from around 70% following the accompanying policy statement, in which it brushed aside the importance of weaker-than-expected first-quarter GDP figures.
Later on Thursday, the House will vote on the Republican bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. If succesful that may pave the way for the US administration's tax reform plans later in 2018.
IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: "This one may well get through, which should provide a bullish move for healthcare stocks. It will be nice to see the administration finally get something passed; better late than never, as they say."
In other corporate news, Facebook was weaker after the company reported a rise in quarterly profit and sales but warned that revenue could slow "meaningfully" in 2017.
As regards Thursday's economic data releases, the Department of Labor reported that initial US unemployment claims fell by a substantial 19,000 in the week to 29 April (consensus: 248,000).
Unit labor costs accelerated to an annual rate of 3.0% during the first quarter of 2017 (consensus: 2.5%), prompting Pantheon Macroeconomics to caution that core consumer prices might soon follow close behind.
Dow Jones - Risers
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $227.71 0.62%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $86.94 0.59%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $76.15 0.52%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $43.52 0.46%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $87.38 0.44%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $173.13 0.34%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $63.82 0.30%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $120.57 0.22%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $34.29 0.13%
Boeing Co. (BA) $183.62 0.13%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $99.70 -1.81%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $105.34 -1.29%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $81.90 -0.96%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $68.74 -0.49%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $78.63 -0.47%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $146.40 -0.45%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $111.22 -0.36%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $45.99 -0.34%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $54.35 -0.33%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $36.91 -0.19%
S&P 500 - Risers
Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (WLTW) $142.45 6.30%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $27.00 5.84%
Zoetis Inc (ZTS) $58.58 5.38%
Ball Corp (BLL) $80.23 5.26%
Amerisource Bergen Corp. (ABC) $86.99 5.23%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $427.66 5.07%
Church Dwight Co Inc. (CHD) $50.80 4.21%
Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) $68.60 3.69%
Coca-Cola European Partners Limited (CCE) $38.87 3.13%
Endo International Plc (ENDP) $11.23 3.11%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $5.14 -7.13%
Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $10.10 -6.09%
L Brands Inc (LB) $49.92 -6.01%
CenturyLink Inc. (CTL) $24.00 -5.59%
Apache Corp. (APA) $46.28 -5.16%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $1.53 -4.97%
Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR) $24.53 -4.55%
Realty Income Corp. (O) $55.21 -4.53%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $13.19 -4.49%
Newfield Exploration Co (NFX) $34.00 -4.31%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $427.66 5.07%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $32.34 1.32%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $182.18 1.31%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $37.66 1.26%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $68.05 1.25%
Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $119.94 1.25%
Dentsply International Inc. (XRAY) $64.59 1.22%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $45.79 1.19%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $98.60 1.12%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $97.00 1.09%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $296.63 -4.63%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $38.09 -2.98%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $61.72 -1.41%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $265.02 -1.25%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $124.48 -1.09%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $150.17 -1.07%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $64.45 -1.06%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $43.54 -0.85%
Liberty Global Plc Lilac Class A (LILA) $21.25 -0.70%
Liberty Interactive Corporation QVC Group (QVCA) $20.86 -0.67%