Stocks open higher on Wall Street but remain lower for week
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Stocks are opening modestly higher on Wall Street, but remain lower for the week after five straight losses.
Stocks are opening modestly higher on Wall Street, but remain lower for the week after five straight losses. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in the early going Thursday and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5%. Energy companies were doing better than the rest of the market. Exxon Mobil was up a little over 2%. Crude oil prices turned higher after closing at their lowest point of the year a day earlier. Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which helps set mortgage rates, rose to 3.50%.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.
Wall Street pointed higher in premarket trading Thursday ahead of employment and inflation data that may offer hints about how aggressive the Federal Reserve's next move will be in its battle against inflation.
Futures for the Dow inched up 0.2% and the S&P 500 rose 0.3% before the bell.
The U.S. releases data on weekly unemployment claims Thursday. The jobs market has been a strong area in an uneven economy, making it more difficult for the Fed to tame inflation. There are nearly two available jobs for every unemployed American and the unemployment rate is historically low at 3.7%. Fed officials have said the unemployment rate will need to reach 4% to have a meaningful impact on rising prices.
On Friday, the U.S. releases data on wholesale prices that will provide more details on how inflation is affecting businesses and consumers. There has been some evidence that inflation has eased the past few months, but not nearly enough for the Fed to dramatically change its aggressive course of rate hikes.
The Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate six times since March, with its key rate now in a range of 3.75% to 4%, the highest in 15 years.
World shares were mixed on Wednesday as the rally of the past two days faded and oil prices resumed climbing with no end to the war with Iran in sight.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they would not let any oil out of the Middle East until U.S. and Israeli attacks cease, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to threaten to hit Iran “twenty times harder” if it blocked exports.
World shares tumbled on Monday, with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunging more than 5%, after oil prices spiked at nearly $120 a barrel, casting a shadow over economies heavily dependent on imports of oil and gas from the Middle East.
The war in the Middle East is quickly pushing some countries around the world towards a potential energy crisis.
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