US open: Stocks head south for third day in a row
Wall Street stocks opened lower on Thursday, putting major indices on track for a third consecutive day of losses.
As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.71% at 28,310.17, while the S&P 500 was 0.81% weaker at 3,460.56 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.04% softer at 11,646.48.
The Dow opened 203.83 points lower on Thursday, extending losses recorded in the previous session amid a flurry of corporate earnings.
Those same earnings were also in focus after the open on Thursday, with Morgan Stanley reporting quarterly earnings of $1.66 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28, while Walgreens Boots Alliance posted an adjusted quarterly profit of $1.02 per share and also announced a 2.2% dividend increase.
Jeweller Tiffany & Co posted come strong preliminary sales figures earlier in the morning but said it still expects to record a mid-single-digit percentage decline in sales despite now eyeing an increase in operating earnings, while United Airlines disclosed a quarterly loss of $8.16 per share, wider than the loss of $7.53 predicted by analysts.
Market participants were also patiently waiting for any indication that a Covid-19 aid deal was still possible after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that reaching a stimulus agreement before the election would be difficult. However, Mnuchin did state that both he and Donald Trump were committed to getting a stimulus deal done.
Also in focus was news that several European nations, including the UK, were nearing another round of nationwide lockdowns as part of an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19 ahead of winter.
On the macro front, initial jobless claims rose unexpectedly from last week's upwardly revised print of 845,000 to 898,000 in the week ended 10 October, according to the Labor Department, well above expectations for a reading of 825,000. The reading marked the seventh straight week that claims were above 800,000, indicating a potential slowdown in the US labour market recovery.
On the other hand, continuing claims dropped from 11.18m to hit 10.01m.
Elsewhere, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing index for October surged to 32.3, well ahead of expectations for a reading of 13.5, while the New York Fed's Empire State Index fell more than expected - dropping from 17 to 10.5, weaker thatn the 14.5 predicted by economists.