Stocks Opened Flat with Service Data Ahead

U.S. stocks opened little changed on Thursday ahead of data that could alter expectations for changes to monetary policy. The Dow Jones industrial average lately rose 52.56 points or 0.35 percent, to 14,983.43, the S&P 500 gained 5.19 points or 0.31 percent, to 1,658.27 and the Nasdaq Composite added 13.07 points or 0.36 percent, to 3,662.11.

U.S. private employers added 176,000 jobs in August and new claims for jobless benefits fell last week, which could bolster expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin winding down a bond-buying stimulus program this month. Initial jobless claims in the last week of August fell by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000, which was just a
tick above a five-and-a-half year low, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 2.3 percent annual rate during the second quarter of 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The increase in productivity reflects increases of 3.7 percent in output and 1.4 percent in hours worked.

The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, and markets turned their attention to ECB chief Mario Draghi’s news conference for any signs a euro zone recovery will affect the bank’s policy stance.

Pimco’s Bill Gross, manager of the world’s largest bond fund, said on Thursday that the global economy has become difficult to stabilize and that investors should seek safety in shorter-dated bonds and inflation-protected Treasuries.

Beleaguered BlackBerry Ltd., intends to run a fast auction process that could be wrapped up by November, according to people familiar with the matter. The smartphone maker announced in August that it had formed a special committee of board members to “explore strategic alternatives.”

The Bank of Japan said the world’s third-largest economy is recovering and signaled it would increase its huge stimulus only if a planned sales tax hike was to threaten its goal of lifting inflation to 2 percent in two years.

Global food prices fell in August for the fourth month running, according to the United Nations’ food agency which again raised its 2013/14 forecast for grain production. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Thursday that cheaper food last month reflected declines in corn, wheat and edible oils prices.