U.S. stocks open lower ahead of Fed speakers

U.S. stocks opened lower Thursday as Wall Street remained cautious ahead of a round of appearances by Federal Reserve officials.

Investors kept a close eye on comments from Fed officials later Thursday, including Fed Chair Janet Yellen, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, New York Fed President William Dudley and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, for more hints on the timing of an interest rate hike.

Many analysts believed that the Fed will raise interest rates next month as U.S. jobs report for October came out much stronger than expected.

On the economic front, in the week ending Nov. 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 276,000, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised level, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

The 4-week moving average was 267,750, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 262,750, but still held to the lowest level in years.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 150.26 points, or 0.85 percent, to 17,551.96. The S&P 500 fell 14.42 points, or 0.69 percent, to 2,060.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 30.84 points, or 0.61 percent, to 5,036.18.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks reversed early gains to close mildly lower, as Wall Street continued to weigh the likelihood of a year-end rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Endi