US open: Stocks lower as traders digest another batch of data

Wall Street stocks were in the red again early on Thursday as investors digested another batch of data and comments from a number of Federal Reserve bankers.

As of 1515 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.60% at 33,095.78, while the S&P 500 lost 0.72% to 3,900.56 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.94% weaker at 10,854.51.

The Dow opened 201.18 points lower on Thursday, extending losses recorded in the previous session as market participants digested a slew of data points.

Macro data was again the flavour of the day on Thursday, with initial jobless claims figures falling by 15,000 week-on-week to 190,000, according to the Labor Department, the lowest in four months and well and truly below expectations for a print of 214,000.

On another note, housing starts fell by 1.4% month-on-month to reach an annualised pace of 1.38m, according to the Commerce Department. However, the better-than-expected reading was offset by a downward revision to the prior month's print from 1.42m to 1.40m. Permits, considered to be a lead indicator for activity in the sector, slipped by 1.6% over the month to 1.33m.

Finally, manufacturing sector activity in the US mid-Atlantic region improved a little at the start of 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, whose factory sector index rose from a reading of -13.7 in December to -8.9 in January. Economists had forecast a reading of -10.0.

Also likely to draw an amount of investor attention, Federal Reserve Bankers Lael Brainard, John Williams, and Susan Collins were all set to deliver speeches throughout the course of the day.

Comments from JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon also weighed on sentiment at the bell after the bank's head honcho said he thinks interest rates will probably "go higher than 5%" due to "a lot of underlying inflation", which "won't go away so quick".

In the corporate space, Procter & Gamble and Netflix will both report earnings on Thursday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $481.77 1.16%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $60.33 0.86%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $267.82 0.67%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $170.85 0.64%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $141.06 0.46%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $141.15 0.22%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $109.02 0.21%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $0.00 0.00%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $145.35 -0.07%

Dow Jones - Fallers

American Express Co. (AXP) $145.78 -3.08%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $124.01 -1.91%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $248.26 -1.80%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $318.00 -1.76%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $143.93 -1.69%
Boeing Co. (BA) $205.95 -1.65%
3M Co. (MMM) $121.00 -1.43%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $232.82 -1.27%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $97.91 -1.14%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $261.53 -1.08%

S&P 500 - Risers

Comerica Inc. (CMA) $70.38 6.73%
Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) $101.57 2.33%
Truist Financial Corp. (TFC) $46.70 2.10%
Humana Inc. (HUM) $494.39 1.99%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $48.33 1.66%
Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) $33.18 1.41%
Resmed Inc. (RMD) $229.12 1.39%
Essex Prty Trust Inc. (ESS) $218.29 1.37%
Equity Residential (EQR) $61.51 1.28%
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) $73.02 1.22%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Northern Trust Corp. (NTRS) $91.24 -7.81%
Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) $95.53 -6.26%
Allstate Corp (The) (ALL) $124.83 -5.74%
Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (BFH) $35.37 -5.20%
Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) $77.22 -5.11%
Synchrony Financial (SYF) $31.67 -4.64%
Discover Financial Services (DFS) $97.77 -4.47%
VF Corp. (VFC) $28.86 -3.99%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $237.01 -3.97%
Keycorp (KEY) $16.65 -3.45%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $37.53 3.19%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $128.32 1.91%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $59.63 1.91%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $48.33 1.66%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $166.15 1.13%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $344.65 0.98%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $89.17 0.76%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $39.95 0.74%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $810.58 0.68%
Meta Platforms Inc. (META) $133.44 0.32%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $237.01 -3.97%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $118.39 -2.99%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $200.27 -2.70%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $62.50 -2.60%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $318.30 -2.46%
Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $470.09 -2.33%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $1.86 -2.11%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $16.29 -2.10%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $170.42 -1.93%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $141.60 -1.91%