US stocks dip as market weighs better labor data

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks dipped early Thursday amid lingering global growth worries and as weekly US jobless claims fell to a new pandemic low.

The losses extended a two-day pullback following disappointing US retail sales data for July and Federal Reserve minutes suggesting the central bank would soon taper stimulus programs.

Americans filed 348,000 new unemployment claims, seasonally adjusted, in the week ended August 14, fewer than expected and bringing the total closer to the pre-pandemic level, before Covid-19 forced nationwide business closures that caused millions of layoffs.

About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent at 34,897.80.

The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.1 percent to 4,394.51, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.3 percent to 14,478.28.

After hitting fresh records on Monday, stocks have pulled back in the last two sessions on worries the Delta variant of Covid-19 will constrain the economic recovery.

Analysts have also pointed to profit taking as a factor, offset by rounds of bargain-hunting that is leading to overall volatility.

Among individual companies, Macy's jumped 10.2 percent after lifting its sales and profit forecast for the year following a strong second quarter as customers returned to stores.

The retailer reported profits of $345 million compared with a loss of $431 million in the same three months of last year.