U.S. stocks open lower after report shows jobless claims jump

U.S. stocks opened modestly lower Thursday after a report from the Labor Department showed that weekly jobless claims climbed higher than anticipated. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.15% was down 0.4% soon after the opening bell, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.02% slipped 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.68% fell 0.2%, according to FactSet data, at last check. Initial jobless claims jumped to 219,000 during the seven-day stretch ending Oct.1, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s above the 203,000 of new claims that economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast, with investors worrying that layoffs may be rising as the Federal Reserve aims to cool the economy and high inflation through aggressive rate hikes. Several Fed officials are scheduled to speak today, including Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari at 1 p.m. Eastern time.