US open: Markets tumble despite positive data from jobless claims

US stocks tumbled on Thursday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average registered another triple digit drop, despite positive reports on jobless claims and industrial production.

US initial jobless claims fell to 264,000 in the week ended 11 October, below consensus expectations for 290,000 and the lowest level since April 2000.

Claims for the week ended 4 October were unrevised at 287,000, while the four-week moving average of initial claims declined to 284,000 from a level of 288,000 the prior week. Continuing claims for the week ended 4 October rose slightly to 2.39m from an upwardly revised 2.38m, though the four-week moving average of continuing claims continued to decline to 2.40m.

“The low level of jobless claims reflects continued improvement in labour markets, which we expect will continue to drive the unemployment rate lower to 5.8% by the end of this year,” Barclays said in a note to investors.

Meanwhile, a surge in utilities and a rebound in manufacturing helped US industrial production to rise in September by the biggest margin since November 2012.

Figures released by the Federal Reserve showed that output at factories, mines and utilities exceeded analysts’ forecast as it reached 1% following a 0.2% decline in August. Estimates for total production ranged from gains of 0.1% to 0.8%.

Manufacturing, which makes up 75% of total production, rose 0.5% in September, offsetting August’s decline, while capacity utilization, which measures the amount of a plant in use, rose to 79.3% in September from 78.7% in August.

Utility output gained 3.9% after rising 1.2% in July, while mining production, which includes oil drilling, registered its biggest increase since April gaining 1.8%.

In corporate news, Netflix shares plummeted 24% after the company announced late on Wednesday that third-quarter subscriber growth that missed forecast, while Ebay slid back over 3% after giving a sales projection for the fourth quarter that missed estimates.

Goldman Sachs fell over two points, despite reporting higher than expected third quarter earnings and raising its quarterly dividend by five cents, while Nestle dropped over 3% after its nine-month sales missed analysts’ expectations.

Shire dropped 10% after Abbvie’s board officially informed its stakeholders to vote against the proposed merger with the UK drugmaker.

Man Group rose over 4% after the world’s largest publicly traded hedge-fund manager said assets under management jumped 25 percent in the third quarter.

The price of West Texas intermediate crude continue to tumble, losing over 1.7% as crude was trading at just over $80.4 a barrel, while gold lost over 0.6%.

The dollar moved forward against the euro and the yen but lost ground against the pound.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was down six basis points to 2.08%, while the yield on the 30-year note was down by the same margin to 2.86% and the yield on the five-year note shed one basis point to 1.33%.