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S&P 500 Index opens near Wednesday's closing level around 4,500

  • Wall Street's main indexes stay calm after the opening bell.
  • Energy stocks turn south as WTI trades in the negative territory.
  • Financial shares continue to capitalize on rising US Treasury bond yields.

Major equity indexes opened flat on Thursday as investors stay on the sidelines ahead of FOMC Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium. As of writing, the S&P 500 was down 0.03% on the day at 4,496, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.15% 35,471 and the Nasdaq Composite was unchanged on the day at 15,035.

Earlier in the day, the data published by the US Department of Labor showed that Initial Jobless Claims rose by 4,000 to 353,000 in the week ending August 21. Additionally, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that it revised its annualized GDP growth in the second quarter to 6.6% from 6.5%.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Financials Index is up 0.3% supported by a more-than-1% increase seen in the 10-year US Treasury bond yield. On the other hand, the Energy Index is losing 0.55%, pressured by a 1% decline in US crude oil prices.

S&P 500 chart (daily)

Author

Eren Sengezer

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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