US open: Stocks mixed ahead of Fed summit

Wall Street stocks were mixed early on Thursday ahead of the Federal Reserve's summit in Wyoming.

As of 1515 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.12% at 35,452.37, while the S&P 500 was down 0.11% at 4,491.27 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.01% weaker at 15,039.70.

The Dow opened 46.87 points higher on Thursday, extending gains recorded in the previous session.

Thursday's primary focus will be the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated Jackson Hole symposium, with central bankers set to make remarks to the media beginning.

Investors will be holding out to see if Fed heads to provide some sort of update on their plans regarding tapering monetary stimulus.

On the macro front, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose a little more than expected last week but remained near a pandemic low, according to figures released by the Labor Department.

US initial jobless claims pushed up by 4,000 to 353,000 from the previous week’s level, which was revised up by 1,000. Meanwhile, the four-week moving average fell by 11,500 from the previous week's level, which was revised up by 250, and continuing jobless claims declined by 3,000 from the previous week to 2.86m.

Elsewhere, the Commerce Department showed that US GDP rose at an annualised pace of 6.6% in the second quarter, coming in ahead of an initial estimate of 6.5% but a touch below analysts' expectations for 6.7% growth. This follows 6.3% growth in the previous quarter.

Still to come, the Kansas Fed's August manufacturing index will be released at 1600 BST.

In the corporate space, Dollar General posted second-quarter earnings and revenues that beat expectations, while Dell Technologies and HP will report after the close.