US open: Stocks trade higher following July's PPI reading

dl exchange place wall st street pl new york city nyc ny nyse stock exchange dow jones sp nasdaq finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america — Exchange PlaceSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks opened higher on Thursday following the release of last month's producer price index.

As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.91% at 33,612.19, while the S&P 500 was 1.02% firmer at 4,253.11 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.21% stronger at 13,010.55.

The Dow opened 302.68 points higher on Thursday, extending Gails recorded in the previous session after July's CPI reading came in cooler than expected.

Thursday's primary focus will be July's PPI reading, which revealed a fall in energy prices saw wholesale inflation in the US register its first outright fall since April 2020. According to the Department of Labor, so-called final demand prices retreated at a month-on-month pace of 0.5% (consensus: 0.3%). That pushed the annual rate of increase down from 11.3% in June to 9.8% for last month (consensus: 10.3%) - its slowest rate of gains since October.

Elsewhere on the macro front, Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a slightly accelerated pace in the week ended 6 August, according to the Labor Department. Initial jobless claims rose by 14,000 week-on-week to 262,000, slightly better than expectations for a reading of 263,000, while the previous week's level was downwardly revised by 12,000 to 248,000.

In the corporate space, theme park operator Six Flags reported quarterly profits and revenues that fell well and truly short of expectations, while eyewear retailer Warby Parker posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $121.19 7.79%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $116.22 2.73%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $55.13 2.01%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $120.69 1.94%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $158.76 1.89%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $354.27 1.83%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $193.84 1.64%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $35.94 1.63%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $167.13 1.28%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $40.38 1.19%