US open: Losses at the bell following latest Fed minutes
Wall Street trading began with more losses on Thursday as investors continued to digest the latest set of meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve.
As of 1500 BST, the Dow Jones had lost 0.53% and was trading at 25,569.73, while the S&P 500 was 0.54% lower at 2,794.08 and the Nasdaq was 0.69% weaker at 7,590.10.
On Wednesday, minutes from the Fed's 25-26 September policy meeting showed that members of the rate-setting committee were broadly in agreement about the need to lift borrowing costs. A number of the committee's members expressed support for raising the base rate above a neutral level to keep inflation in check.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said the minutes caused further unrest as they reaffirmed the widely held opinion at the central bank that interest rates have further to rise including another hike this year.
"Why this came as such a surprise is something of a mystery as the minutes didn't appear to deviate from the message after the meeting when the central bank raised interest rates and removed the reference to policy being accommodative."
On the corporate front, shares of biopharmaceutical group Endocyte rocketed more than 50% in early trade as it agreed to be bought by Swiss drug maker Novartis for $2.1bn.
Philip Morris gained 3.90% at the open after it posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, while Travelers slipped 1.60% at the bell after the release of its third-quarter numbers.
Bank of New York Mellon slipped 2.56% after it revealed a slowdown in third-quarter sales growth.
Still to come, American Express and Paypal are slated to report their earnings after the closing bell.
On the data front, US jobless claims dipped last week, holding near their record lows.
According to the Department of Labor, initial unemployment claims for the week ending on 13 October fell by 5,000 to 210,000, slightly ahead of consensus estimates for a reading of 211,000.
In parallel, the four-week moving average, which aims to smooth out the variations in the data from one week to the next, increased by 2,000 to hit 211,750.
Elsewhere, manufacturing conditions in the Philadelphia region deteriorated less than expected in October, according to a survey released by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve on Thursday.
The index for current manufacturing activity in the region fell to 22.2 from 22.9, beating expectations for a bigger drop to 20.0. Nearly 36% of the manufacturers surveyed reported increases in overall activity this month, while 14% reported decreases.
The new orders index fell two points to 19.3, while the current shipments index rose five points to 24.5. The prices paid index, meanwhile, slipped one point to 38.2.