US open: Stocks slide following yesterday's record breaking rally
Wall Street stocks were lower after the opening bell on Thursday following yesterday's strong session, with tech stocks taking the biggest hit in early trading.
As of 1540 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.71% at 28,894.73, while the S&P 500 was 1.50% softer at 3,527.12 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 2.79% weaker at 11,720.65.
The Dow Jones opened 205.77 points lower on Thursday, reversing gains recorded in the previous session that saw the index close above 29,000 for the first time in over six months and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq see out the session at record levels.
As far as Thursday was concerned, the day's main focus was the weekly jobless claims report from the Department of Labor.
New filings for jobless claims came to 881,000 in the week ended 29 August, ahead of estimates for a reading of 950,000 as the employment market seemingly continued its gradual recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Continuing claims fell sharply, dropping by 1.24m to 13.25m.
However, the fall in regular state programme claims was not reflected in claims for pandemic unemployment assistance, which rose by 152,000 to 759,000.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the figures were "still grim" despite the change in calculation method. He said under the previous method the weekly figure would have been 1.02m, adding "The pace of layoffs still remains very high, and it appears that the proportion of newly laid-off people quickly finding another job is falling".
Also in focus, America's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has told state governments to make preparations for the large-scale distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Now, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg, the Department of Health and Human Services and CDC "are rapidly making preparations to implement the large-scale distribution of Covid-19 vaccines in the fall of 2020." If proven correct, distribution would commence two days before the presidential election on 3 November.
Back on the macro front, the US trade deficit widened to its largest level in 12 years in July, with the surplus on services plunging to its lowest in eight years.
The overall gap of goods and services expanded to $63.6bn, according to the Commerce Department, wider than the $58bn predicted by economists. Exports increased 8.1% to $168.1bn, while imports grew 10.9% to $231.7bn.
Elsewhere, US services industry growth decelerated in August, according to the Institute for Supply Management, which revealed its non-manufacturing activity index fell to a reading of 56.9 last month - down from 58.1 in July. Economists had forecast the index slipping to 57.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago head Charles Evans will deliver a speech at 1800 BST.
In corporate news, Facebook was in focus after announcing it would ban political advertisements in the week leading up to November's US election, while Campbell Soup and Michael Cos both posted earnings that came in ahead of expectations.
Apple shares were down 4% at the bell, while Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Netflix were all down over 2%.