U.S. stocks open lower on soft GDP report

U.S. stocks opened lower Thursday as the country's economic growth in the third quarter came out weaker than expected.

U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in the third quarter, down from the revised 3.9 percent increase in the second quarter and missing market expectations of 1.7 percent, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

On a year-on-year basis, the economy increased 2 percent in the third quarter, which represents the slowest expansion since the first quarter of 2014.

According to the Commerce Department, the slower growth in the third quarter mainly reflected a downturn in private inventory investment and slowdown in exports, consumptions and government spending.

Meanwhile, in the week ending Oct. 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 260,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 259,000, said the U.S. Labor Department on Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 259,250, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 263,250. This is the lowest level for this average since Dec. 15, 1973 when it was 256,750.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 40.69 points, or 0.23 percent, to 17,738.83. The S&P 500 went down 5.25 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,085.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 26.04 points, or 0.51 percent, to 5,069.65.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks posted solid gains as Wall Street assessed the Federal Reserve's meeting announcement amid a positive earnings report from the behemoth Apple Inc.. Endi