US open: Stocks trade lower following jobless data

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 were in the red early on Thursday as major looked set to extend the previous session's losses.

As of 1525 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.31% at 32,810.18, while the S&P 500 was 0.24% weaker at 4,105.98 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.14% softer at 12,069.84.

The Dow opened 100.72 points lower on Thursday, extending losses recorded on Wednesday when the blue-chip index snapped its two-day winning streak.

Investor sentiment got a boost prior to the open on Thursday after Bloomberg reported that China may be willing to let Jack Ma's Ant Group go ahead with its initial public offering, indicating that Beijing may now very well be looking to dial back its tech crackdown and sending US-listed shares in Alibaba more than 4% higher in the process. The sudden scuttling of Ant's IPO back in November 2020, just days before the fintech giant was set to go public, came as China sought to make changes to the sector's regulatory environment.

Market participants also digested headlines from Europe, with the European Central Bank confirming its intention to hike interest rates at its policy meeting next month and downgrading growth forecasts. The Governing Council said it intends to raise key interest rates by 25 basis points at its July meeting and expects a further hike at its September meeting.

Treasury yields remained elevated on Thursday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note rising to 3.042% before the open, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil futures eased off 0.17% to $121.90 per barrel.

On the macro front, jobless claims in the US rose by more than expected during the latest week, although the Memorial Day holiday may have been partially to blame. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, initial unemployment claims rose by 27,000 to reach 229,000 over the week ending on 4 June. Economists at Barclays Research had forecast a rise to 215,000.

The four-week moving average of initial claims meanwhile rose by 8,000 to 215,000, while secondary claims, which are those not being filed for the first time and referencing the week until 28 May, were unchanged from the week before at roughly 1.31m.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Thursday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Home Depot Inc. (HD) $305.14 2.56%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $123.72 1.16%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $190.96 0.94%
3M Co. (MMM) $146.53 0.76%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $145.83 0.50%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $177.91 0.36%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $271.26 0.31%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $246.15 0.27%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $62.96 0.11%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $44.95 0.07%