Wall Street opened lower Thursday as a sudden increase in jobless claims indicates that the labour market recovery is weak and that more financial support will be necessary to avoid another round of massive and temporary layoffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 47.04 points, or 0.18%, to 26716.09 points.
S&P500 index declined by 10.87 points, or 0.33%, to 3,226.14 points, while the Nasdaq composite index declined 81.97 points, or 0.77%, to 10,551.02 points.