- The major Wall Street indices are trading in positive territory on Thursday.
- The US economy grew at a softer pace than expected in the second quarter.
- Energy stocks post strong gains after the opening bell.
The main US stock indices opened higher on Thursday as investors ignored the release of uninspiring US data At time of writing, the S&P 500 Index was up 0.47% on the day to 4,421, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.55% at 35,123 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.4% to 15,079.
The first estimate from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis showed on Thursday that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded at an annualized rate of 6.5% in the second quarter. This reading disappointed the market’s expectation of 8.5% by a wide margin. Other US data revealed that there were 400,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending July 24, compared with analysts’ estimate of 380,000.
Among the top 11 sectors in the S&P 500, the Energy Index is up 0.9%. On the other hand, the Communication Services Index is the only sector that is trading down after the opening bell, losing 0.35%.
S&P 500 chart (daily)
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