US open: Stocks rise at the bell following wild trading during previous session
Wall Street stocks opened higher on Thursday following the rollercoaster trading conditions seen during the previous session.
As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.56% at 26,152.83, while the S&P 500 traded 0.89% firmer at 2,909.56 and the Nasdaq Composite started out the session 1.00% stronger at 7,941.60.
The Dow opened 145.76 points higher after US stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday, with a late rally helping erase a massive drop seen earlier in the day when the Dow dropped by as much as 589 points in a wild session.
In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note briefly slid below 1.6%, hitting its lowest level since 2016 in the process and further narrowing the spread versus the yield on two-year notes, a widely watched recession indicator. But on Thursday, morning the 10-year yield was back up at around 1.75%, although it remained far beneath the level of overnight interest rates.
Gold futures also jumped by more than 2.0% on Wednesday, sending them above the $1,500 per ounce level for the first time in six years. In the process, its year-to-date gains also overtook those of the S&P 500.
Investors were also keeping an eye on the Chinese yuan after the nation's central bank set the official reference rate for the currency at 7.0039 yuan per US dollar on Thursday — its weakest level since April 2008.
Some strong data out of China overnight also helped calm Wall Street investors down, as the Asian nation revealed exports had risen at a 3.3% year-on-year clip in July - a much better than expected reading than the 2.0% decline predicted by economists.
Elsewhere, Donald Trump took some fresh swings at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.
"Our problem is a Federal Reserve that is too proud to admit their mistake of acting too fast and tightening too much," he tweeted. "Incompetence is a terrible thing to watch."
In terms of macro news, a key indicator of US labour demand continued to point to robust hiring conditions through last week.
According to the Department of Labor, initial US jobless claims fell by 8,000 during the week ending on 3 August to reach 209,000. Economists at Barclays Research had pencilled-in a print of 215,000.
Continuing claims, which are those that are not being filed for the first time and referencing the week ending on 27 July, dipped by 15,000 to hit 1.684m.
With data still in mind, US wholesale inventories for June were revised lower to show them unchanged, pointing to a slowdown in the pace of inventory accumulation.
According to the Commerce Department, stocks at wholesalers advanced 7.6% on a year-on-year basis in June.
On the corporate front, shares of Kraft Heinz were down 12.89% after first-half profits slumped, while those of Viacom were climbing by more than 3% after beating on quarterly estimates.
Uber, Dropbox and News Corp were set to publish their latest quarterly updates after the close of trading.
Caterpillar shares took a hit in early trade after analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded its shares from 'buy' to 'neutral' as a result of its exposure to and reliance on China.