U.S. stocks open sharply lower amid jobless claims

U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday as Wall Street pondered over the ongoing uncertainty about the timing of a rate hike amid jobless claims data.

As there is no Federal Reserve policy meeting in August, investors were still sifting through the highly-watched minutes from the Fed's July meeting released Wednesday afternoon.

According to the minutes, most U.S. Fed officials believed conditions for tightening monetary policy were approaching, but they failed to give clear signals on the timing of the first interest rate hike in nearly nine years.

Market analysts widely see September or even later as the most likely time for a Fed rate increase.

On an economic front, in the week ending Aug. 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims increased 4,000 from the previous week's revised level to 277,000, exceeding market consensus of 270,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

The 4-week moving average was 271,500, an increase of 5,500 from the previous week's revised average.

Meanwhile, the diving oil prices also weighed on market sentiment. Oil prices decreased to its lowest level in more than six years on Wednesday, with the U.S. oil settling at near 40 dollars a barrel.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 155.14 points, or 0.89 percent, to 17,193.59. The S&P 500 lost 16.75 points, or 0.81 percent, to 2,062.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 44.18 points, or 0.88 percent, to 4,974.87. Endi