US stocks open mixed as volatility falls, yields rise

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US stocks opened mixed on Thursday as volatility fell for the fourth consecutive day but yields were on the increase.

The Dow Jones added 242 points to 34,565 at 9.40 a.m. EDT (1340GMT). Ford soared 5% to $14.48, climbing to its highest level in five years after the car company said it will be focusing on transitioning to electric vehicles with software applications.

The S&P 500 rose 15 to 4,211 with electric carmaker Tesla shedding 0.1%.

The Nasdaq, on the other hand, was down 19 to 13,718 with Airbnb jumping 4%.

The VIX volatility index was down for a fourth consecutive day by 1.1% to 17.16, but the yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds reversed course, adding 2.4% to 1.611%.

The dollar index, which shows the strength of the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, was flat at around 90.06. The euro showed some weakness by falling less than 0.1% against the dollar to 1.2184.

After rallying more than 11% on Monday and losing 5% on Tuesday, Bitcoin continued its volatility. The world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap was down around 5% earlier but managed to climb above the psychological level of $40,000 with a 2.6% daily gain.

Gold dived below the key $1,900 per ounce level and it was trading with a 0.3% loss at $1,890. Silver remained weak, losing 0.2% at 27.62.