US stocks trade lower as latest jobless claims data points to cooling labor market

• US stocks dropped Thursday, with major indexes stalling after a strong streak of gains.
• Weekly jobless claims came in at 231,000, higher than estimates of 220,000.

US stocks were slightly lower as markets opened on Thursday, as investors digested data from the Labor Department that showed a cooling labor market.

Weekly jobless claims climbed more than expected, with claims for the week ending November 11 hitting 231,00, above the Dow Jones estimate of 220,000.

Continuing claims climbed to 1.865 million, above the 1.853 million estimate.

On Wednesday, the producer price index dropped by the most since April 2020, pointing to a continuing decline in inflation. Year-over-year, PPI rose 1.3%, marking a sharp drop from the 2.2% the month prior. The reading adds to Tuesday's consumer price index report, which also showed rising at a slower pace in October.

Markets are hoping that the Federal Reserve will take this week's data as an encouraging sign that policy is sufficiently restrictive to back off from further rate hikes.

Bank of America earlier in the week declared that the rate-hiking cycle is over following the cooler October CPI report.

"The October CPI report is undeniably good news," Bank of America strategists said. "However, we must remember that September was bad news and that monthly inflation data can be very choppy. That said, we have seen significant disinflation to date, which is good news for the Fed. The path forward is likely to remain bumpy, but we do think that further disinflation is likely over the coming years."

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

• S&P 500: 4,502.01, down 0.03%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,928.54, down 0.16% (-56.46 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 14,068.93, down 36.85%

Here's what else is going on:

• Reddit's co-founder said the crypto winter will clean house.
• Tech billionaire Michael Dell mocked his old foe Carl Icahn about his holding company's plunging stock price.
• The Dow reversed its short-lived bearish death cross and flashed a bullish signal.
• US debt is a "noose" around the economy, a veteran strategist warned.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• Oil prices dropped, with West Texas Intermediate down 12.5% to $74.75 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, moved lower 2.25% to $79.31 a barrel.
• Gold edged higher 0.5% to $1,974.90 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield moved lower seven basis point to hover at 4.471%.
• Bitcoin dipped 2.66% to $36,557.