US stocks edge lower; Nvidia earnings, jobless claims in focus

Investing.com -- US stocks edged just lower Thursday, as investors digested signs of a healthy labor market as well as earnings from artificial intelligence major Nvidia and increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

At 09:35 ET (14:35 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10 points, or 0.1%, the S&P 500 index dropped 15 points, or 0.3%, and the NASDAQ Composite dropped 100 points, or 0.5%.  Initial jobless claims fall 

The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, with initial claims dropping 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 213,000.

This suggests job growth rebounded in November after abruptly slowing last month amid hurricanes and strikes, implying the underlying US labor market remains strong. 

The claims data covered the period during which the government surveyed businesses for the nonfarm payrolls component of November's employment report.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by a scant 12,000 jobs in October, the smallest gain since December 2020, after rising by 223,000 in September.

The market focus now turns to purchasing managers index data for November on Friday, while several Federal Reserve officials are also set to speak in the coming days.  Nvidia rises despite weak guidance  

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA ) shares rose over 3% after the tech giant beat expectations in the third quarter, overturning the earlier cautious sentiment as its its fourth-quarter revenue forecast ounderwhelmed some traders hoping for a much bigger beat, especially given the stellar run-up in Nvidia’s valuation this year. 

The revenue forecast presented a sharp slowdown in Nvidia’s quarterly revenue growth, given that the company guided much stronger year-on-year increases in revenue for the past three quarters.

Nvidia, which recently overtook Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL ) to become the world’s most valuable listed company, also flagged supply constraints, especially in its upcoming Blackwell line of next-generation AI chips, while adding that demand for its advanced AI chips remained robust.  Starbucks looking at China options - report

In other corporate news, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX ) stock rose around 1% after Bloomberg reported the coffee chain is considering options for its China business, including a potential stake sale, as it attempts to revitalize sales under new CEO Brian Niccol.

Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW ) stock soared over 27% after the data analytics software maker reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that beat estimates.

Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU ) stock fell over 6% after the Chinese tech giant posted an annual drop in third-quarter revenue. Crude prices rise

Crude prices rose Thursday, buoyed by fears of supply disruptions stemming from worsening tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war, countering the impact from a bigger-than-expected increase in US inventories.

By 09:35 ET, the US crude futures (WTI) climbed 1.6% to $69.87 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 1.5% to $73.86 a barrel.

Crude prices have advanced this week as the use of long-range US and UK weapons by Ukraine against Russia, something Moscow had warned for months would be seen as a major escalation.  

Still, overall gains were limited by concerns over slowing demand, especially as U.S. inventories  grew more than expected, rising by 545,000 barrels to 430.3 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 15.

More worrying for oil markets was a nearly 2.1 mb build in gasoline inventories , which spurred some concerns that US fuel demand was cooling as the winter season approached.

(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

Source: Investing.com