US Stock Markets Today: S&P 500 Open Lower; Nasdaq, Dow Jones Fall After CPI Inflation Report

The US stock market edged lower on Thursday after the consumer price index edged higher than expected in September. However, a big jump in the initial jobless claims made the matter confusing. The S&P 500 fell from its all-time high with losses of over 0.30%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.17% or 74.24 points, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.53%, or 96.22 points.

The S&P 500 stood at 5,775.33 at the opening bell, down by 16.71 points.

"Today’s CPI report will lower enthusiasm around rate cuts next month, and if some of these other catalysts increase uncertainty, it could act as a short-term excuse for markets to pull back—particularly with the S&P 500 at all-time highs," Bret Kenwell at eToro told Bloomberg.

While the US consumer price index rose 0.2% in September, the core CPI rose 0.3%, the government said on Thursday. In addition, US weekly jobless claims rose 33,000 to 2,58,000 versus Bloomberg's estimate of 2,30,000.

According to Bespoke Investment Group, the economic data went in the “wrong direction” in terms of the economic impact. "CPI data came in higher than expected on both a headline and core basis. Jobless claims, on the other hand, surpassed expectations," the investment group told Bloomberg.

In the early minutes of trading, only two of the 11 sectoral indices were trading in green, with the utilities sector leading the surge, while communication was among the indices edging lower.

Among major companies, Amazon.com Inc. and Nova Vision Acquisition Corp. logged gains, whereas Intel Corp., Apple Inc., Domino's Pizza Inc. and Salesforce Inc. slipped in early trade.

As the US market opened, spot gold rose 0.45% to $2,619.40 an ounce. Crude oil prices rose, with Brent trading 1.46% higher at $74.31 per barrel.

The Bloomberg Dollar Index was up 0.06% at $102.87, but the British Pound was little changed at $1.3067, while the Japanese yen was up 0.4%.

Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency, rose 1% to $61,014.63.