US open: Stocks take a breather after Dow breaks 21k, Snap surges on IPO

US stocks were trading lower on Thursday as investors took a breather after the Dow broke through the 21,000 mark in the previous session, while shares surged in Snap on its much anticipated initial public offering.

On Wednesday, the Dow closed at a new record high of 21,115 after markets were boosted by rising expectations of a March rate hike by the Federal Reserve following hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials, and US President Donald Trump’s address to Congress.

At 1544 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 21,104.33, the S&P 500 fell 0.26% to 2,389.72 and the Nasdaq was down 0.32% to 5,885.23.

Meanwhile, oil prices retreated with West Texas Intermediate down 1.7% to $52.93 per barrel and Brent crude fell 1.69% to $55.42.

In currency markets, the dollar gained 0.09% against the pound to 0.8141, was up 0.26% versus the euro to 0.9507 and was 0.55% firmer against the yen at 114.35.

Shares in Snap, the owner of the photo sharing app Snapchat favoured by 16-25 year olds, jumped over 30% in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.

It had an opening price of between $21-$23 per share, more than a 30% increase on its IPO price of $17 a share, which valued Snap at around $19.7bn.

Nicholas Hyett, Equity Analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Recent tech IPOs have been a mixed bag. After tumbling immediately after listing, Facebook has proven a success, but Twitter is finding life as a listed company tough so far. With around 150m daily users, Snapchat is more popular than Twitter.

“However, the investment case is about more than monetising the app. The group is pitching itself as a camera company, and hopes that innovations such as ‘Spectacles’, essentially sunglasses that can record video, can transform how we see the world. For now though it is still making significant losses, over $500m last year.”

On the data front, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to its lowest level in nearly 44 years last week. US initial jobless claims were down 19,000 from the previous week's revised level to 223,000.

The previous week’s level was revised from 244,000 to 242,000. This marked the lowest level for initial claims since March 31, 1973 when it stood at 222,000. Economists had expected claims to come in at 245,000.

In other corporate news, Abercrombie & Fitch Co climbed 14.88% despite missing fourth quarter earnings expectations, but was upbeat in its outlook and expects sales to improve in 2017.

On the down side, Barnes & Noble tumbled 7.07% after the bookseller reported that quarterly profit fell below expectations and experienced its worst Christmas quarter in a decade.

File sharing company Box Inc dropped 5.64% after it said the current quarter would not meet analysts’ forecasts.

Kroger was down 3.74% after quarterly same-store sales miss forecast as supermarket industry in the US struggled with falling prices.

Shake Shack fell 1.05% after the burger chain’s 2017 revenue outlook late on Wednesday missed expectations.