Investing.com – Wall Street opened lower on Thursday, after jobless claims numbers were consistent with a strengthening labor market.
The S&P 500 fell 16 points, or 0.62%, to 2,684.82 as of 9:35 AM ET (14:35 GMT), while the Dow dipped 159 points, or 0.64%, to 24,921.06 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 11 points, or 0.17% to 7,124.54.
The number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. rose by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 216,000 from the previous week’s total of 214,000. The numbers give support to the Federal Reserve gradually increasing interest rates.
Meanwhile retail sales rose, while Philly Fed manufacturing data declined.
JC Penny slumped 13.11% after its same-store sales were lower than expected, while Walmart (NYSE:WMT) dipped 0.79%. Walmart's quarter looked strong overall, with a rise in online sales, but revenue did miss estimates. NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) fell 10.18% despite its earnings coming in better than-expected.
Elsewhere, Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) rose 4.38% after its quarterly earnings beat estimates, while the Naked Brand Group (NASDAQ:NAKD) apparel company surged 27% on news that it closed its acquisition of Fredericks of Hollywood's global e-commerce business. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 1.26%, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) inched up 0.18%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 1.16% to $1,213.10 a troy ounce, while crude oil rallied 0.53% to $56.55 a barrel on news that OPEC could curb its production output. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, increased 0.37% to 97.02.