S&P 500 Index opens flat following two-day rally

• Wall Street’s main indexes trade mixed on Thursday.
• Weekly Jobless Claims in US rose sharply last week.
• Energy stocks turn south as oil rally loses steam.

Major equity indexes opened near Wednesday’s closing levels as the risk rally seems to have started to lose steam. As of writing, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% on the day at 4,354, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was losing 0.33% at 34,683 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.25% at 14,883.

Earlier in the day, the data from the US showed that the weekly Initial Jobless Claims increased by 51,000 to 419,000. Moreover, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s National Activity Index declined to 0.09 in June from 0.26 in May. These uninspiring figures seem to be weighing on market sentiment.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index is down 1.5% as crude oil prices struggle to build on Wednesday’s strong gains. On the other hand, the Technology Index is the top-performer after the opening bell, rising 0.6%.

S&P 500 chart (daily)