Wall Street opens lower as stimulus deadlock and jobless claims spike rattle traders

Despite expectations of a more mixed open, the main indices on Wall Street all turned lower on Thursday morning as stagnant stimulus talks and a worse than expected number of jobless claims took a toll on market sentiment. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.9% at 28,245 while the S&P 500 dropped 1.1% to 3,450 and the Nasdaq fell 1.3% to 11,615. Another factor that may have wiped away any residual positivity in the latest batch of US jobless claims, which showed that 898,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week to October 10, higher than the 845,000 figure from the prior week and well above predictions of 825,000, indicating that any economic recovery may be losing steam. Overall, the figures mean the US economy is still over 10 million jobs short of recovering the 22 million that were lost during the initial stages of the pandemic earlier this year. 7.57am: Wall Street to open mostly lower Wall Street is heading for a mostly lower open on Thursday, with the Nasdaq once again bucking the trend with expectations of a higher start. The tech-heavy index is looking to open 50 points higher at 11,819 but the Dow Jones Industrial Average is tipped to tumble 252 points to 28,262 and the S&P 500 is slated to slump 34 points to 3,455. The talks on a fiscal stimulus for the US economy have not been going on anywhere near as long as the Brexit negotiations between the UK and the EU but they seem to be making progress at the same sclerotic pace and that has hit sentiment in equity markets. “After months of talks, the Democrats and Republicans still can't agree on a critical support package that could make life very hard for businesses and households in the coming months. [US Treasury Secretary] Steve Mnuchin's admission that a package is unlikely before the election was a blow to the markets, one they're struggling to pick themselves up from,” said OANDA’s Craig Erlam. “Of course, no stimulus before the election doesn't mean none at all, in fact, it could be much larger if, as polls suggest, Democrats enjoy a clean sweep in the election but a lot of damage - some irreversible - could occur in the interim, it's far from a desirable outcome,” he added. The third-quarter earnings season is also now in full-flow, which may provide some cheer for traders keen to invest in equities. Five things to watch for on Thursday: Share price reaction from Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) as the investment bank reported third quarter earnings and revenues that were ahead of forecasts Also in the spotlight will be Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) after the pharmacy group reported a profit fall that was less bad than predicted, while revenues had increased ahead of expectations Meanwhile, investors may also be looking to shares in Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) after Elon Musk announced the firm was cutting the price of its flagship Model S to US$69,420, ostensibly as a joke but perhaps also to undercut rival electric car maker Lucid Motor’s new Lucid Air model, priced at around US$77,400 which falls to US$69,900 upon receipt of a tax credit A scandal at banking giant Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) could affect the firm’s share price after it unveiled that it has fired more than 100 employees for allegedly defrauding the US government’s pandemic relief program Macro data will also be in focus with jobless claims data for the week to October 10 predicting that 825,000 Americans will have filed for unemployment benefits over the period compared to 845,000 in the previous week