US open: Stocks open slightly lower following strong gains in the previous session

US stocks opened lower on Thursday following strong gains during the previous session on the back of a seemingly dovish speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

At 1530 GMT, the Dow Jones was down 0.37% at 25,272.25, while the S&P 500 was 0.53% lower at 2,729.25 and the Nasdaq was trading 0.69% softer at 7,241.35.

The Dow surged more than 600 points on Wednesday after Powell said US interest rates were "just below" neutral levels barely two months after saying they were "a long way" from neutral, leading US equity markets to their best session since March.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "If a December pop for equities, or Santa Rally, were going to occur then a more easy Fed will do it. The softer language from the Fed will be heard loud and clear by equity markets as a sign it's aware of the risks of tightening too quickly.

"Of course, there is another way to read it. In some ways this was about correcting a pretty basic error when he said rates are long way from neutral. This off the cuff comment sparked the equity selloff from which markets are still struggling to recover."

On the corporate front, clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch soared more than 21% in early trade after raising its fourth-quarter guidance and Dollar Tree was 4.39% firmer despite missing same-store estimates.

HP and Dell Technologies were set to report after the close.

On the macroeconomic calendar, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, to a six-month high, according to figures from the Labor Department.

US initial jobless claims increased 10,000 from the previous week's level to 234,000, versus expectations for a drop to 220,000.

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average came in at 223,250, up 4,750 from the previous week's level of 218,500.

Elsewhere, consumer spend in the US snapped back last month, mirroring the improvement seen in personal incomes and helped by a dip in prices.

According to the Department of Commerce, in October and in nominal terms personal incomes and spending increased at a month-on-month clip of 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively.

Economists had anticipated an increase of 0.4% in both.

Downwards revisions to the August and September readings for personal consumption expenditures meant that the October tally was in fact a tad weaker than anticipated, although PCE outlays did accelerate significantly after a downwardly revised month-on-month increase of 0.2% for September.

The headline PCE price deflator was unchanged at up by 2.0% year-on-year, but at the 'core' level, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, PCE inflation slipped from 1.9% to 1.8%.

The personal savings rate dipped by a tenth of a percentage point from September's upwardly revised 6.3% to 6.2% of Americans' disposable income.

Lastly, contracts to buy previously owned homes fell across the US in October, according to new data. said on Thursday.

The NAR’s pending home sales index decreased to a reading of 102.1, down 2.6% month-on-month, while September’s reading was revised up to 104.8 from 104.6.

Economists had expected pending home sales to rise 0.5% last month.

The latest minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee are still to come at 1900 GMT, with investors watching out for any further clues as to the future path of monetary policy.

Market participants were also looking ahead to the G20 summit that takes place in Argentina on Friday and Saturday, amid hopes that the US and China can come to some sort of truce on trade.