US open: Stocks mixed as it prepares for Clinton or Trump

US equities were mixed on Thursday after a surge of economic data was released, while markets prepared for either a Hilary Clinton or Donald Trump presidency.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.18% to 17,991.42 points and S&P 500 climbed 0.08% to 2,099.63 points, but the Nasdaq fell 0.2% to 5,095.37 points at 1500 GMT.

Oil prices retreated as investors remained skeptical over OPEC's planned production limit.

Brent crude was down 0.08% to $46.82 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate declined by 0.39% to $45.16 at 1509 GMT.

On Wednesday the Federal Reserve as, expected, stood pat on increasing interest rates with less than a week to go before the presidential election, but indicated that a December hike could be on the cards.

Connor Campbell, a financial analyst at Spreadex, said: “The Dow Jones could only find mild satisfaction in the dollar’s weakness this Thursday, rising a meagre 0.2% after the bell. That leaves the index under 18000, until this week a position it hadn’t been in since mid-September.

“A weaker than forecast ISM services PMI (at 54.8, the same as the Markit reading) didn’t help, though there isn’t much ambiguity where the brunt of the Dow’s negativity is coming from.”

He added: “The US election is now only 5 days away, and with the polls painting an inconsistent picture investors can be forgiven for fearing the worst (a Trump win, if that wasn’t clear).”

Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, as initial jobless claims were up 7,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level to 265,000. Economists had been expecting claims to be unchanged at 258,000.

This was the 87th consecutive week of initial claims below 300,000 – the longest streak since 1970.

Non-farm labour productivity, the goods and services produced by workers per hour, increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.1% in the third quarter, due to a rise in output while hours grew slightly.

Markit’s services purchasing managers’ index rose to 54.8 in October from 52.3 in the previous month, above the 50 mark that separates contraction from expansion. It was the steepest rate of expansion for almost a year.

Adjusted for seasonal influences, the composite PMI output index came was 54.9 from 52.3, the strongest upturn in private sector output since November 2013.

Factory orders edged higher in September by 0.3% month-on-month to $455.5bn, economists had forecast a 0.4% rise.

In the corporate news, Facebook’s shares slumped 4.29% after the social media company cautioned after the close on Wednesday that advertising revenue growth will slow “meaningfully”.

Shares in natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy rose 2.92% as it reported that production fell 3.3% in the third quarter, compared to last year to 59m barrels of oil equivalent, due to asset sales.

Net loss fell nearly 75% to $1.20bn, while adjusted profit was 9 cents per share, above analysts’ expectations of 3 cents.

Avon Products’ shares fell 5.31% after the cosmetics company said it swung to a £35.6m profit in the quarter from a loss of $691m a year earlier.

Revenue fell 1.9% to $1.41bn with adjusted earnings of two cents per share, up from an 11 cents loss, but missed expectations of three cents on $1.42bn in revenue.