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U.S. stocks open mixed on jobless claims

Xinhua, May 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks opened mildly mixed on Thursday, as investors digested jobless claims and waited existing home sales.

In the week ending May 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 274,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week' s unrevised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.

Existing homes sales data is due later in the morning and is expected to show a 1 percent gain. Market will also pay attention on Manufacturing PMI Thursday.

In corporate news, Best Buy reported adjusted quarterly profit of 37 cents per share, above estimates, with revenue beating forecasts as well. Shares jumped over 5 percent in the early trading.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 14.48 points, or 0.08 percent, to 18,270.92. The S&P 500 ticked down 0.10 points, to 2,125.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.98 points, or 0.02 percent, to 5,072.72.

U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday, as investors pondered over the minutes form the Federal Reserve' s April policy meeting released in the afternoon.

According to the minutes, many of the participants in the Fed' s April policy meeting "thought it unlikely that the data available in June would provide sufficient confirmation that the conditions for raising the target range for the federal funds rate had been satisfied," though they concluded that the first-quarter economic slowdown was transitory.

A whole batch of disappointing economic reports was released since the Fed' s April meeting, leading many analysts to expect a rate hike in September or next January.

Markets are also putting a greater focus on Janet Yellen' s speech this Friday for possible new clues of an upcoming rate hike. Enditem