Stocks Opened Lower, Jobless Claims Dropped

U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday, as investors took a breather after a surge on Wall Street that followed President Donald Trump’s speech to the joint session of Congress. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 13.04 points or 0.06%, to 21,102.51. The S&P 500 was down 5.48 points, or 0.23%, to 2,390.48. The Nasdaq Composite was off 12.99 points, or 0.22%, to 5,891.04.

The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits near the end of February fell by 19,000 to 223,000, setting a fresh postrecession low and illustrating the strength of the U.S. labor market.

Snapchat parent Snap, Inc. (SNAP) has priced its initial public offering of 200 million shares at $17 per share, which means the company is raising $3.4 billion. This gives the social media giant a value of $23.6 billion.

Oil prices fell further Thursday, depressed by the latest pick up in U.S. crude stockpiles and production. Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at $53.54 a barrel, down 29 cents, or 0.5%. May Brent crude fell 27 cents, or 0.5%, to $56.09 a barrel.

The dollar strengthened against major rivals on Thursday sending the ICE U.S. dollar index to two-month high, as yet another Federal Reserve official appeared to back a buck-boosting interest-rate hike sooner rather than later. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index, which compares the dollar to six major currencies, gained 0.4% to 102.16, the highest level in two months.