US stock market opens higher; Europe mixed after BoE meeting

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US stocks opened higher Thursday with a decline in initial jobless claims, but European indexes were mixed after the conclusion of a Bank of England's (BoE) meeting.

The Dow Jones rose 0.36%, or 123 points, to 34,916 at 9.34 a.m. EDT, while the S&P 500 added 12, or 0.27%, to 4,414.

The Nasdaq increased 25, or 0.17%, to 14,805 with AMC Entertainment and GameStop gaining around 2% each and pharmaceutical firm Novavax soaring another 5.5%.

The gains came after initial jobless claims in the US declined 14,000 to 385,000 for the week ending July 31, according to the Labor Department.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was flat at 1.119 and the dollar index was almost unchanged at $92.25.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, reversed course from three consecutive days of increase by falling 3% to 17.43.

Precious metals were mixed as gold fell 0.13% to $1,809 per ounce and silver increased 0.15% to $25.42.

Oil prices recovered somewhat with a 0.5% increase as Brent crude traded at $70.72 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate was at $68.47.

Despite a strong start to the session, European indices gave up earlier gains with some falling into negative territory.

Despite hitting an all-time high of 6,785.92 points, the French CAC 40 was down to 6,772 at 1342 GMT.

STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 European countries, was at 469.42, down from its record high of 470.23.

Spain's IBEX 35 turned negative to 8,780 with a 0.14% loss, while London's FTSE 100 was down 0.12% at 7,114.

Germany's DAX 30 was at 15,724 with a 0.21% gain, while Italy's Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 was at 25,593, a 0.4% increase.

The BoE earlier left its monetary policy unchanged and maintained the bank's lending rate at 0.1%, in line with market expectations, but said it expects higher inflation in the near term.

"CPI [Consumer Price Index] inflation is projected to rise temporarily in the near term, to 4% in 2021 Q4, owing largely to developments in energy and other goods prices, before falling back to close to the 2% target," it said in a statement.