US open: Stocks dip, bond yields still in the spotlight

Wall Street was trading slightly lower come Thursday, despite the release of mostly positive economic data, as investors continued to try and make heads or tails of the downgrade of the country's sovereign debt rating the day before.

"US stocks are getting hit with a one-two punch as Fitch’s US sovereign downgrade overnight and on expectations the US Treasury will continue to boost the size of their debt sales," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda.

"Earnings have been still coming mostly better than expected but the major indexes don't seem to have anything left in the tank to take Wall Street back to record highs."​

As of 1604 BST, the Dow Jones Industrials was dipping 0.27% to 35,176.75, the S&P 500 by 0.31% to 4,499.32 and the Nasdaq Composite by 0.12% to 13,956.22.

The VIX volatility index on the other hand was up by 5.59% to 16.99.

In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was seven basis higher to 4.16% and fast approaching its 52-week highs at 4.325%.

On the positive side of things, initial weekly jobless claims only edged up by 6,000 to 227,000, as expected.

Those figures came alongside others showing a sharp drop in layoff announcements by companies and a slower-than-expècted increase in unit labour costs.

Consensus for the July non-farm payrolls report due out the next day was for a gain of 175,000, but some economists saw scope for a much larger rise.

The Institute for Supply Management's services sector Purchasing Managers' Index on the other hand did slip from a reading of 53.9 for June to 52.7 in July (consensus: 53.0).

Dow Jones - Risers

Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.67 0.81%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $160.98 0.78%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $55.08 0.69%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $52.81 0.43%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $157.22 0.40%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $290.17 0.19%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $329.05 0.17%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $351.62 0.15%
Boeing Co. (BA) $231.45 0.03%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $156.09 0.00%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $216.46 -1.83%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $283.33 -1.48%
3M Co. (MMM) $107.71 -1.10%
American Express Co. (AXP) $165.43 -0.79%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $169.94 -0.68%
Visa Inc. (V) $236.37 -0.50%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $61.65 -0.50%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $158.55 -0.42%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $502.71 -0.41%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $105.35 -0.33%

S&P 500 - Risers

Clorox Co. (CLX) $167.49 9.85%
Apache Corp. (APA) $41.72 6.96%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $778.24 6.30%
Westrock Company (WRK) $34.24 5.24%
Ball Corp (BALL) $59.76 4.70%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $113.32 3.63%
McKesson Corp. (MCK) $426.00 3.13%
Hess Corp. (HES) $153.66 2.81%
Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) $34.60 2.75%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $10.63 2.71%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Fiserv Inc. (FI) $0.00 -100.00%
Dxc Technology Company (DXC) $19.28 -28.76%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $99.03 -16.08%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $64.52 -11.86%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $115.14 -10.93%
Cummins Inc. (CMI) $238.31 -9.12%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $16.07 -8.83%
MGM Resorts International (MGM) $45.24 -8.16%
Ansys Inc. (ANSS) $304.80 -6.32%
Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG) $116.45 -6.13%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,298.74 11.50%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $778.24 6.30%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $69.27 6.01%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $39.66 3.69%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $39.68 3.55%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $150.90 2.87%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $109.56 2.57%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $440.68 2.56%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $66.57 2.40%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $448.18 1.24%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Fiserv Inc. (FI) $0.00 -100.00%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $99.03 -16.08%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $64.52 -11.86%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $115.14 -10.93%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $39.26 -3.47%
Marriott International - Class A (MAR) $197.86 -2.78%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $107.74 -2.72%
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $2,806.64 -2.71%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $84.12 -2.27%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $88.61 -1.84%