US market opens higher, trying to recover from previous losses

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indices on the US stock market opened slightly higher Thursday, trying to recover from losses in past sessions.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose almost 40 points, or 0.11%, to 35,070 at 9.36 a.m. EDT, and the S&P 500 was up 3.5 points, or 0.08%, to 4,517.

The Nasdaq increased 21 points, or 0.14%, to 15,308 with Moderna soaring 4.1%, while Coinbase, BlackBerry and General Electric each added more than 1%.

The indices have been under pressure since Friday amid weak labor market conditions, after figures showed the US economy added just 235,000 jobs in August, well below the market estimate of 750,000.

Worries were slightly soothed after initial jobless claims fell 35,000 to 310,000 last week, according to Labor Department. But, the figure is still off from 256,000 since March 14, 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic began.

After its worst single-day decline since May 19, Bitcoin showed signs of recovery from massive losses Tuesday. The world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap was struggling to stay above the critical $47,000 level shortly after the opening bell.

Despite strong gains in the previous session, oil prices were down 0.6% with Brent crude trading at $72.22 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $68.86.

Precious metals showed some recovery with gold rising to $1,793 per ounce with a 0.2% gain, and silver rising 0.8% to $24.13.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes fell 0.7% to 1.331%, while the dollar index was down 0.1% to 92.5.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, declined 3% to 17.42.