Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday, after the release of globally upbeat U.S. jobless claims ang economic growth data, as markets were still jittery amid fresh tensions between the U.S. and Russia.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow 30 slid 0.37%, the S&P 500 retreated 0.58%, while the Nasdaq tumbled 1.04%.
Official data showed that U.S. gross domestic product was revised up to 2.6% in the final three months of 2013, from a preliminary estimate of 2.4%. Market expectations had been for an upward revision to 2.7%.
The report showed that personal spending was revised up to 3.3% from 2.6% initially, the fastest rate of growth in three years.
Separately, the Labor Department said the number of people who filed for initial jobless benefits in the U.S. last week declined by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 311,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 321,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000.
The upbeat data added to hopes that the slowdown in economic activity seen at the start of the year would be temporary.
Investors were still cautious however, after U.S. President Barack Obama said late Wednesday that Russia's actions had to be condemned and he warned that "the isolation will deepen, sanctions will increase" for Russia.
In the financial sector, Citigroup (NYSE:C) plunged 5.09% after the U.S. lender's capital plan failed Federal Reserve stress test due to concerns over the quality of the bank's processes.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), however, won the Fed's approval for its first dividend increase since the financial crisis, sending shares up 0.70% at the open of the U.S. trading session. Separately, Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan gave in to shareholders' demand and raised the quarterly dividend to 5 cents.
Meanwhile, King Digital Entertainment (KING.K) dropped 1.16% on its second day as a publicly traded company. The maker of the mobile game "Candy Crush" had priced its shares at $22.50 Tuesday after the market closed.
Adding to losses, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) tumbled 1.47%, after dropping over 6% on Wednesday following the announcement it acquired Oculus VR, which makes virtual-reality headsets.
Other stocks likely to be in focus included Accenture (NYSE:ACN), Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU), Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG), Commercial Metals (CMC), GameStop (NYSE:GME), Worthington Industries (WOR), Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) and Oxford Industries (OXM), all scheduled to report quarterly earnings later in the day.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.27%, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.52%, Germany's DAX slid 0.43%, while Britain's FTSE 100 declined 0.61%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.24%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.01%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release private sector data on pending home sales.