By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets were mixed after early trade on Thursday, with tech stocks outperforming, after data that showed the U.S. labor market continuing to improve despite the ongoing high number of infections and deaths from the Covid-19 virus.
The Labor Department said 963,000 people filed initial claims for jobless benefits last week, with a further 489,000 filing for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. While those numbers are still - in the words of Grant Thornton Chief Economist Diane Swonk - "staggeringly high", they were the lowest since March, and comfortably below consensus expectations.
Continuing claims, meanwhile, fell to just under 16 million, a number that underlines the importance of breaking a deadlock on Capitol Hill on the next round of fiscal relief measures for the economy. With another 2.2 million people ending their claims for PUA in the week to July 25, the total number of people claiming under various programs fell to 28.26 million people from 31.32 million the previous week.
By 10:10 AM ET (1410 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen 21 points, or 0.1%, to 27,955 points. The S&P 500 was up less than 0.1% but the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.5%.
Among individual stocks, online car seller Vroom (NASDAQ:VRM) stock fell 16.9% after it reported a widening loss in its first quarterly report since going public. Telecoms network equipment maker Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) stock fell 10.8% after it posted its first annual revenue decline in three years and laid out a restructuring plan.
Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) stock fell 4.7% after it reported a sharp drop in rides in the second quarter. The report came only a day after California ordered the company and its bigger rival, Uber (NYSE:UBER), to classify their drivers as employees. Lyft President John Zimmer told analysts it would have to suspend operations in California temporarily unless it can overturn the ruling on appeal.
Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) stock rose 1.2% amid a steady drumbeat of positive media coverage of the company, which broadens the e-commerce possibilities for small and medium-sized businesses.
In other markets, the Dollar Index weakened again, but 10-Year bond yields and Gold Futures were roughly unchanged in the wake of the jobless data.
U.S. Crude Oil Futures, meanwhile, drifted slightly lower after the International Energy Agency joined OPEC in revising down its oil demand forecasts for the year, largely on the back of weak demand for fuel from airlines.