US open: Wall Street inches higher after mixed economic data

dl new york city nyc ny us usa united states of america manhattan skyline city finance trading nyse dow jones sp dollar dollars usd federal reserve fed — New York CitySharecast photo / Josh White

US stocks were inching higher on Thursday as a mixed set of economic data helped offset ongoing concerns about elevated oil prices, rising bond yields and brinkmanship on Capitol Hill that threatened a government shutdown.

As of 1545 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was edging up 0.21% to 33,615.41 and the S&P 500 by 0.25% to 4,285.21-

The Nasdaq Composite meanwhile edging up 0.15% to 13,112.96.

In parallel, gold futures were off by 0.31% to $1,885.10/oz. on COMEX.

The yield on a 10-year US Treasury was up a further 2.1 basis points at 4.647% early on, reaching fresh 16-year highs.

Worth noting, yields for similarly-dated European government debt were up by far more.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was off by 78 US cents to $92.9 a barrel.

On the economic front, initial jobless claims ticked higher by 2,000 over the week ending on 23 September to reach 204,000 (consensus: 215,000).

The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index plunged by 7.1% month-on-month in August (consensus: -0.8%), as a result of higher mortgage rates.

Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said that with the forward earnings yield on the S&P 500 at around the 5.5% level, the 90 basis-point or so difference between that and 10-year yields is at its lowest since the early-2000s.

"The days of easy buy-and-hold markets based on the luscious 3-to-6 ppt spreads above Treasuries in the post-financial crisis era look gone, and a regime change for valuations is obviously well underway," he said.

The very real prospect of a government shutdown next week was also looming large, which may only exacerbate the economic crisis as the Fed sticks to its hawkish stance over monetary policy. If no funding bill is agreed on in the next couple of days, a shutdown could begin on Sunday.

In other news, United Auto Workers union members were set to expand their strikes as they continued to battle with Detroit carmakers General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.

New strike targets were expected to be announced on Friday morning.

Micron Technology shares were down 3% after the chipmaker guided to a worse-than-expected loss in its first quarter, despite beating forecasts in the fourth.

Citigroup was also in focus on reports that it was looking to sell its China retail wealth unit to HSBC.

Dow Jones - Risers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $513.84 2.01%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $147.98 1.51%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.93 0.92%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $53.55 0.66%
Visa Inc. (V) $230.81 0.57%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $104.40 0.44%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $162.43 0.44%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $264.55 0.35%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $171.49 0.26%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $32.49 0.26%