U.S. stocks open mostly lower as investors weigh jobless claims report

U.S. stocks opened mixed Thursday as investors weighed economic data showing initial jobless claims rose slightly. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.07% was up 0.1% soon after the opening bell, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.58% slipped less than 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -1.27% fell 0.2%, according to FactSet data, at last check. The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits in the week ended Sept. 17 rose by 5,000 to 213,000, according to a report from the Labor Department Thursday. Still, new jobless claims are quite low and the labor market remains strong even as the U.S. economy slows.