American equity markets open cautiously after upbeat US jobless figures

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The US stock market experienced a generally reserved opening Thursday, despite positive employment data out of the United States. In particular, Initial Jobless Claims (May 3) came in at 323K, against expectations of 335K. Moreover, Continuing Jobless Claims (April 27) yielded a figure of 3.005M, vs. a projection of 3.020M.

Beginning with the indices and composites, the NASDAQ fell -0.09% as it settles in region of 3400.33, down -3.16 points in these moments. In addition, the S&P 500 is trading in negative territory, operating at 1630.19, descending -2.35 points or -0.14% at the time of writing. Finally, the Dow Jones has edged higher at the opening, trading in the zone of 15108.66, presently +0.02% after a movement of +3.54 points.

Sectors are all mixed at the opening, however the Energy and Consumer Cyclical sectors have distinguished themselves as the losers thus far, falling -0.33% and -0.35% respectively. In other news, the price of crude is testing USD $96.07/bbl Thursday.