Unfortunately, Gary continues to be under the weather – and Econintersect is therefore providing the market open from our syndication partner Investing.com:
U.S. stocks opened steady on Thursday, after the release of upbeat U.S. economic reports as uncertainty over whether central banks will roll back stimulus continued to rattle global markets.
During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average eased 0.06%, the S&P 500 index dipped 0.05%, while the Nasdaq Composite index slipped 0.10%.
The Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell by 12,000 to 334,000, compared to expectations for a decline of 1,000 to 345,000.
Separately, the Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.6% in May, led higher by increased automobile purchases, beating forecast for a 0.4% increase.
Core retail sales, which exclude auto sales, were up 0.3%, in line with expectations.
But investors remained cautious as the prospect of an end to central bank stimulus fuelled a broad based sell-off in risk assets.
In addition, the World Bank earlier said in a report that the global economy will expand 2.2% this year, less than a January forecast for 2.4% growth and slower than last year’s 2.3%.
Global Markets at 0945 EDT
