NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday after an unexpected rise in applications for unemployment insurance and weak data from Europe rattled investors.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 80.98 points, or 0.75 percent, to 10,658.33. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 9.30 points, or 0.82 percent, to 1,124.98. The Nasdaq Composite lost 16.68 points, or 0.71 percent, to 2,317.87.
The S&P 500 fell below 1,130, a level seen as the upper band of the summer trading range and closely watched by technical analysts.