Wall Street Opens Lower as Jobless Data Flag Red-Hot Labor Market; Dow Dn 130 Pts

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets opened lower on Thursday, on course to end a three-day winning streak, after another set of lower-than-expected claims for jobless benefits again highlighted how hot the U.S. labor market is right now. 

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to a new 59-year low of 184,000 last week, well below the 215,000 expected. Taken together with Wednesday's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey - which showed over 11 million unfilled jobs across the country - the figures point to a degree of tightness in the labor market that seems highly probable to stoke further inflation next year. That in turn may push the Federal Reserve to accelerate the tightening of monetary policy further. 

The labor data come a day before the government releases consumer inflation data for November, which are expected to show inflation running at nearly 7% year-on-year.

By 9:49 AM ET (1449 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 126 points, or 0.4%, at 35,629 points. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.2%.

Among early movers, American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) stock fell 1.2% and Boeing (NYSE:BA) stock fell 2.6% after the airline it would trim its capacity for the summer season next year due to the delayed delivery of Dreamliner jets.  That announcement comes only two days after the airline announced a change of management, with long-serving CEO Doug Parker set to step down in March. 

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock, meanwhile, drifted 0.2% lower after being hit with a $1.3 billion antitrust fine in Italy, the latest and one of the largest antitrust fines handed out to a U.S. company in Europe. GameStop (NYSE:GME) stock fell 4.8% after posting a wider full-year net loss and little fresh detail about its digital transformation after the close on Wednesday.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock fell 1.2% as investors fine-tuned their outlook for the next year, which remains clouded by the progress of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. Omicron, which is capable of at least partly avoiding the immune defenses triggered by existing vaccines, is fast becoming the dominant strain of Covid-19, and appears to be contributing to rapid increases in infections in both South Africa and Europe. 

In brighter news, home furnishings specialist RH's (NYSE:RH) stock rose 11.5% after posting results that saw it nudge full-year guidance for revenue and margins higher, despite sustained cost pressures from shipping and transportation. CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) stock, meanwhile, rose 2.8% after announcing a new $10 billion buyback and a promise of higher dividends at its annual investor day.

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Electric vehicle stocks were broadly lower, as legacy carmaker Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) issued a reminder of its financial firepower as it tries to defend its current market share. The German carmaker is set to invest some $59 billion on e-mobility by 2026, an increase of 50% from its previous estimates. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock was down 2.3% while Lucid (NASDAQ:LCID) was down 8.1%.