Stocks are little changed
Stocks were slightly lower in early trading on Thursday morning, following strong gains in the previous session.
Near 9:39 a.m. ET, the Dow was down 36 points, the S&P 500 was down 2 points, and the Nasdaq was down 4 points.
The S&P 500 climbed back above its 200-day moving average, a signal to some traders that stocks have resumed an upward trend. Stocks surged to the highs of the day yesterday after minutes of the Federal Reserve's October meeting showed again the Fed was gearing up for a rate hike next month.
Digital-payments company Square makes its public-trading debut today. Yesterday evening, the company priced its IPO at $11, below the initially indicated range of $11 to $13.
That price valued the company at nearly $3 billion, and was below the company's valuation at its most recent private financing round.
In economic data, initial jobless claims fell 5,000 to 271,000 last week, versus 270,000 expected. It was the survey period for the jobs report, and Barclays economists said this suggested that payrolls growth slowed compared to the 271,000 print in October.
And, the Philly Fed's Business Outlook index rose to +1.9 in November from -4.5 in October, beating forecasts, and indicating that business conditions in the region improved. "Indexes for new orders, shipments, and average work hours, however, continued to suggest weakness," the report noted.
Best Buy shares fell by as much as 8%, after the consumer electronics retailer reported a drop in third-quarter revenues that was driven by a decline in tablet and camera sales.