Stocks Opened Slightly Higher, Eyed on Hurricane Irma

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday after the ECB reaffirmed its ultra-easy policy stance, while investors kept an eye on Hurricane Irma. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 4.96 points, or 0.02%, to 21,812.60. The S&P 500 was up 0.26 point, or 0.01%, to 2,465.80. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.25 points, or 0.02%, to 6,394.56.

Oil prices edged higher Thursday ahead of U.S. stocks data, which is expected to show a sharp fall in gasoline inventories after tropical storm Harvey caused refinery shutdowns in Texas. West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude oil for October rose 0.2% at $49.24 a barrel. Brent crude rose 0.8% to $54.63 a barrel.

Hurricane Harvey boosted new applications for unemployment benefits to the highest level in more than two years. Initial jobless claims in the period running from Aug. 27 to Sept. 2 surged by 62,000 to 298,000, reaching the highest level since spring 2015, the government said Thursday.

The European Central Bank on Thursday, as expected, left interest rates unchanged, leaving the focus on ECB President Mario Draghi’s news conference. The ECB Governing Council left the rate on the bank’s main refinancing operations at 0%, while the rate on deposits left overnight at the ECB was maintained at minus 0.4% and the rate on the marginal lending facility was left at 0.25%.