Stocks Opened Lower as Markets Questioned OPEC’s Oil Deal

U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday as the initial enthusiasm for a preliminary agreement on an oil-production cap between the members of the Organization for the Petroleum Exporting Countries faded. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately slid 8.97 points, or 0.05%, to 18,330.27. The S&P 500 was off 2.37 points, or 0.11%, to 2,169.00. The Nasdaq Composite fell 8.33 points, or 0.16%, to 5,310.22.

Crude-oil prices fell Thursday, as the market digested news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has reached a preliminary deal to cut output, and questioned how such an agreement might work. Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in November traded at $467.706 a barrel. November Brent crude rose $0.06 to $48.75 a barrel.

The U.S. economy grew at a modestly faster pace in the second quarter than previously estimated, but the latest data confirms the expansion decelerated in the first half of the year. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services produced across the economy, expanded at an inflation-adjusted 1.4% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

National Amusements Inc., Sumner Redstone’s family holding company, on Thursday publicly called for the boards of the companies it controls—Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp.—to explore a merger.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) said it will slash around 1,000 jobs in a cost-cutting response to increased competition for its all-important insulin business.