Dow, S&P 500 muted as Wall Street digests GDP, jobs data

U.S. stocks are bidding for a positive flip after opening on a muted note on Thursday, with Nasdaq slightly up amid Wall Street’s reaction to Nvidia earnings and the latest jobs data release.

Summary

• Nasdaq saw slight gains but hovered near the flatline.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 also wavered as early signs of an uptick fizzled.
• U.S. economy grew and weekly jobless claims fell

Wall Street was mixed in early trading on Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average remained subdued with -60 points, and the S&P 500 hovered flat. Meanwhile, Nasdaq inched just above the flatline.

After an unimpressive response to Nvidia’s earnings report, the benchmark index S&P 500 opened lower and was -0.15% at writing. Tech-heavy Nasdaq moved up slightly before paring gains to just 0.1%. 

Staying near the flatline however sees stocks poised near record highs for the major U.S. gauges, with investor sentiment amid latest gross domestic product and weekly jobless claims report a key factor. 

Nvidia shares see uptick

Notably, Nasdaq Composite gained in early trading as Nvidia shares lifted, with the chipmaker’s stock wiping out losses seen in the aftermath of the company’s earnings report on Wednesday. The stock was inching into the green as the 3.5% dip allowed upbeat investors to buy the dip on the Nvidia.

An uptick in tech stocks will likely catalyze Bitcoin (BTC), which has inched above $113k after a notable slump to under $110k.

Wall Street weighs economic data

Data on Thursday showed the U.S. economy experienced a spike in the second quarter, with a 3.3% increase. 

The Commerce Department noted that gross domestic product for the United States expanded compared to the annual seen in the April-June period. Government’s estimates for GDP growth was 3%.

Meanwhile, U.S. jobless claims data marked a decline with the number of Americans filing for jobless benefits falling by 5,000 to 229,000 for the week ending Aug. 23. Economists had projected weekly jobless claims for the week at 230,000.

Elsewhere, investors are watching the Federal Reserve space as fired Fed governor Lisa Cook sues President Donald Trump.