US open: Stocks head south following jobless data
Wall Street stocks were lower on Thursday at the opening bell, with the Dow Jones easing off highs after registering another record close.
As of 1525 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.09% at 31,932.06, while the S&P 500 was 0.38% weaker at 3,910.55 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.65% softer at 13,509.75.
The Dow opened 29.80 points lower on Thursday, cutting into gains recorded in what was a volatile session for major indices.
Rising rates were again in focus on Thursday after the US 10-year Treasury yield hit 1.46% early on, with fears that higher rates could spur investors to rotate out of stocks and into bonds persisting.
Some key data points will also draw an amount of investor attention on Thursday, with US jobless claims in the week ended 20 February coming in shy of economists' forecasts.
According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, the number of Americans filing for unemployment claims fell for the first time in five weeks, coming in at 730,000 - an improvement on last week's revised print of 841,000 and better than expectations for a reading of 825,000.
The four-week moving average of initial claims fell to 807,750 for a decrease of 20,500 from the prior week and secondary unemployment claims, which tally those not being filed for the first time, also continued to retreat, declining by 101,000 to 4.42m.
Also in focus was a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis that revealed the United States' real gross domestic product had expanded at an annual rate of 4.1% in the fourth quarter, a slight increase on initial estimates of 4% and in line with market expectations.
Elsewhere on the macro front, monthly durable goods orders shot up 3.4% in January, crippling economists' estimates, boosted up by surging orders for civilian aircraft, according to the Commerce Department.
Still on data, contracts to buy previously owned US homes fell in January amid a dearth of houses on the market, according to the National Association of Realtors. The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed last month, dropped 2.8% to 122.8. Economists predicted that sales would be unchanged in January.
February's Kansas Fed manufacturing index will be released at 1600 GMT.
As far as Covid-19 figures were concerned, the US has now recorded more than 28.97m total cases, claiming the lives of over 518,360 Americans in the process.
In the corporate space, SeaWorld reported a narrower-than-expected fourth-quarter loss of $45.4m as both attendance and guest spending levels came in ahead of forecasts, while Best Buy beat earnings expectations but cautioned of slowing sales growth.
Domino's Pizza missed on earnings and revenue estimates, rival Papa John's also fell short of expectations after being weighed down by higher costs during the quarter.
Still to come, Airbnb, Beyond Meat, HP, Groupon, Eventbrite, Etsy and Salesforce will all update on recent trading after the close.