US stocks halted their uptrend early Thursday morning and moved lower following a surprise jump in weekly jobless claims.
419,000 Americans filed for unemployment last week, well above the estimate of 350,000. Continuing claims, which measure the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits, stood at 3.2 million, slightly down from last week's revised figure of 3.265 million.
The weekly jobless claims come amid an ongoing economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, but also as the Delta variant is quickly spreading among the unvaccinated.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Thursday:
- S&P 500: 4,362.42, up 0.09%
- Dow Jones industrial average: 34,775.64, down 0.03% (11.05 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 14,667.06, up 0.23%
Guggenheim's Scott Minerd thinks there could be more downside ahead for both the stock market and bitcoin, according to an interview with Bloomberg. Minerd said US stocks could drop 15% by the end of October, and reiterated his view that bitcoin could fall to $15,000.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler signaled that cryptocurrencies could fall under its rules on securities-based swaps and said that more regulation of the crypto space is imminent.
According to a survey conducted by Goldman Sachs, about 60% of high-net-worth family offices are already investing or are interested in investing in crypto.
Oil prices were higher. West Texas Intermediate crude was up as much as 0.5%, to $70.65 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, jumped 0.4%, to $72.55 per barrel.
Gold fell 0.15%, to $1,800.11 per ounce.
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