By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets opened mixed on Thursday, again buffeted by some uneven earnings reports, against a backdrop of a steady improvement in the labor market.
Earlier, fresh data showed initial jobless claims stayed basically unchanged at 268,000 last week, while continuing claims fell more clearly to a new post-pandemic low of 2.08 million. The Philadelphia Reserve's monthly manufacturing index, by contrast, sent a much clearer signal of current activity, rising well above expectations as companies raced to meet orders.
By 9:40 AM ET (1440 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 43 points, or 0.1% at 35,888 points. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% however, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.3%, which chipmakers gaining after a very upbeat forecast from Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) after the bell on Wednesday.
Nvidia stock itself was the most actively traded stock on the market, rising over 10% after its numbers, which beat expectations thanks to ongoing strong demand for its data center and gaming chips. Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) stock also gained from the announcement, rising 4.6%. Nvidia for the first time had talked openly about the potential it sees for demand from the so-called 'metaverse', which it expects to drive demand for high-powered chips well into the future. Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) stock - another tipped heavily to be a winner from that trend, gained another 6.6% at the open and is now up 38% in the last week alone, and up 71% over the last month.
In a very different sector, Macy’s (NYSE:M) stock also soared after numbers for the latest months showed it had paradoxically emerged stronger from the pandemic, having been forced to accelerate a transition to an omnichannel model. The department store chain said Thursday it will launch its own curated marketplace in an attempt to cement those gains, while also lifting its earnings guidance for 2021 again.
However, as has been the case all week, disappointing retail results met a savage response. Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) ADRs fell 9.7% after its sales and earnings fell short of estimates, and the stock is now back testing the 34-month low that it hit earlier in the summer at the peak of the Chinese government's regulatory crackdown on Internet companies. Smaller e-commerce rival Bilibili (NASDAQ:BILI) also fell 15% after its quarterly earnings, but JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) rose 4.1% after its numbers beat expectations,
Elsewhere, electric vehicles continued to retrace after their recent rally left them overextended. Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) stock fell 8.9% and Lucid (NASDAQ:LCID) stock fell 9.7%. Mastercard (NYSE:MA) underperformed again, falling 1.2% as traders bet on a battle with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) over its fee structure next year. Amazon had sent a shot across larger rival Visa (NYSE:V)'s bows on Wednesday, dropping Visa's credit cards from its U.K. site.