US open: Stocks higher following Nasdaq's worst day since 2022

dl wall street wall st new york city new york stock exchange nyse dow jones nasdaq street sign nyc united states usa america pb — Sharecast / Alessandro D Andrea via Pixabay

Major indices were in the green early on Thursday following a heavy tech selloff that saw the Nasdaq Composite deliver its worst daily performance since December 2022.

As of 1505 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.26% at 41,305.03, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.29% to 5,604.27 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.24% firmer at 18,039.66.

The Dow opened 106.96 points higher on Thursday, extending gains recorded in the previous session, while the tech-heavy reclaimed some of yesterday's losses that came amid a rotation out of the sector.

Chip makers were amongst the worst performers yesterday amidst news of possible US export restrictions from the Biden administration, while Taiwan Semiconductor also took a hit following comments from presidential candidate Donald Trump that suggested Taiwan should pay the US for its defence.

As far as Thursday's headlines go, Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at an accelerated pace in the week ended 13 July, according to the Labor Department, which said initial jobless claims rose by 20,000 to 243,000, above market expectations for a print of 230,000 to register a fresh weekly high. Continuing claims increased by 20,000 to 1.86m, while the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, increased by 1,000 to 234,750.

Elsewhere on the macro front, manufacturing activity in Philadelphia rose to a three-month high in July, with new orders and shipments rising to their highest levels in more than two years, according to data released by the region's Federal Reserve Bank on Thursday. The index for general activity in July's Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey increased to 13.9 this month with 39% of firms reporting growth in activity, compared with 25% reporting decreases and 29% experiencing no change.

In the corporate space, Discover Financial traded higher following Q2 results that topped expectations, while Beyond Meat was sharply lower on reports that the meat replacement business was set to meet with bondholders to kick off talks regarding a restructuring of its balance sheet.

Domino's Pizza shares slumped on the back of quarterly sales that fell short of expectations, while DR Horton beat earnings expectations and announced a $4.0bn stock buyback and Snap-On topped earnings estimates but fell short on revenues.

Still to come, Netflix will report earnings after the closing bell on Thursday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $364.63 1.91%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $48.22 1.49%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $336.01 1.29%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $11.88 1.24%
Boeing Co. (BA) $187.02 1.18%
American Express Co. (AXP) $252.25 0.92%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $222.34 0.70%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $73.54 0.64%
3M Co. (MMM) $105.22 0.55%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $188.39 0.50%