US stocks mixed as investors digest the Fed's accelerated interest-rate hike guidance

• US stocks were mixed Thursday as investors weighed the Fed's accelerated interest-rate hike guidance.
• Weekly jobless claims came in at an unadjusted 412,000 last week, according to the Labor Department.
• Bitcoin edged lower, while gold and oil also tumbled.

US stocks traded mixed on Thursday as investors digested the Federal Reserve's accelerated interest-rate hike guidance.

Based on new projections from the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank will raise its benchmark interest rate two times in 2023, compared to a prediction at its March meeting of zero rate hikes for the same period.

The Fed had previously placed its first forecasted rate hikes past 2023, suggesting it was willing to let inflation run hot to let the US economy recover.

"Our preferred explanation is that the FOMC takes a more firmly backward-looking interpretation of average inflation targeting than we had assumed," Goldman Sachs Economics Research said in a note. "With average inflation over the cycle already on track to exceed 2% by this year, this interpretation appears to lower the future inflation bar for liftoff."

Here's where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. open on Thursday:

• S&P 500: 4,225.72, up 0.05%
• Dow Jones industrial average: 34,064.15, up 0.09% (30.48 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 14,040.97, down 0.01%

Weekly jobless claims came in at an unadjusted 412,000 last week, according to the Labor Department. The median estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for 370,000 claims. The reading snaps six straight weeks of declines that had pulled claims to several pandemic-era lows.

"While an upward move in jobless claims is not necessarily what we want to see on the economic recovery front, it's still a pretty low number for the pandemic-era and jobless claims have been marching steadily lower since early spring," Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E-Trade Financial, said.

A boost in jobless claims, however, means that the Fed could be less likely to raise rates faster than the market is anticipating, he said.

Meanwhile, CureVac tumbled by as much as 50% after the German pharmaceutical firm said its COVID-19 vaccine candidate failed in a clinical trial.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was trading slightly lower at around $38,725. The cryptocurrency has been trading sideways following the massive crash in May but reclaimed $40,000 this week.

Last month's massive selloff slashed bitcoin's market capitalization by almost 30% to $766 billion.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield edged lower to 1.553% from Wednesday's 1.569%.

Oil prices slipped. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.47% to $71.81. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, ticked lower by 0.63%, to $73.92 per barrel.

Gold dropped 1.92%, to $1,783.54. The precious metal tumbled on the Fed's accelerated rate-hike projections.