US open: Stocks mostly higher, Dow dragged down by jump in dollar

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US stocks were mostly higher on Thursday as investors mulled the latest initial jobless claims figures, although strength in the greenback was dragging on the Dow Industrials.

At 1522 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.33% lower to 36,037.67, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were carving out fresh record highs, climbing by 0.21% and 0.56% to reach 4,669.45 and 15,893.52, respectively.

In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was down by seven basis points at 1.535%, alongside a 0.458% rise for WTI crude oil futures to $82.56 and a 0.53% jump for the US Dollar index to 94.36.

On Wednesday, stocks on Wall Street had also notched up record highs after the US Federal Reserve said the economy was strong enough for it to start tapering its pandemic bond buying programme.

Danske Bank said: "In line with our base case, the Fed announced it will reduce the monthly QE buying pace by $15bn per month starting from mid-November. This means that QE is concluded in June.

"As expected, the Fed introduced some flexibility by saying the tapering pace could be adjusted if needed. We think balance of risk is tilted towards a higher tapering pace, although it is not our base case.

"Fed Chair Powell linked future rate hikes to labour market outcomes, unless the Fed fundamentally changes its view on high inflation being transitory. We believe yesterday's announcement marks the beginning of a tightening cycle still expecting two rate hikes next year (25 basis points both in September and December 2022)."

On the corporate front, investors were sifting through earnings from Regeneron, Kellogg’s and Qualcomm, among others, with Uber and Square also slated to report.

In macroeconomic news, the latest data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 269,000 in the week ended 30 October, hitting their lowest level since 14 March 2020.

Analysts had been expecting a figure of 275,000.

Worth noting, in the background investors were also waiting on the monthly non-farm payrolls report due out the next day.

Dow Jones - Risers

Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $91.07 2.70%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $307.81 1.62%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $174.18 0.97%
Visa Inc. (V) $209.94 0.88%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $371.45 0.67%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $252.07 0.67%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $151.15 0.64%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $113.39 0.34%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $334.83 0.25%
3M Co. (MMM) $182.51 0.15%