U.S. stocks open lower ahead of FOMC minutes

U.S. stocks open lower ahead of FOMC minutes

8 October 2015, 15:47
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U.S. stocks opened slightly lower Thursday as market participants were nervous ahead of minutes from the Fed’s most recent policy-setting meeting

The Dow Jones Industrial Average looked set to snap a four-day winning streak, opening 50 points, or 0.3%, lower at 16,867. The S&P 500 opened 6 points, or 0.3%, lower at 1,989. The Nasdaq Composite began the day down 20 points, or 0.4%, at 4,770.

In Europe, stock markets struggled for direction, as investors digested further downbeat numbers out of Germany and dovish comments from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.

Minutes from the European Central Bank’s September 3 meeting signaled the officials have seen more pressure on inflation in recent months and were aware that the “overall economic situation in the euro area had become more challenging since before the summer.”

The downbeat outlook on inflation was also prevalent in the minutes from the Bank of England, signaling the central bank is ready to keep rates low as long as needed. The BoE left its key lending rate at a record low of 0.5% at its October meeting and made no changes to its 375 billion pound ($574.54 billion) quantitative-easing program.

Germany’s DAX 30 index climbed 0.2% to 9,985.75, while France’s CAC 40 index dipped 0.1% to 4,661.27. London's FTSE 100 index was 0.3% higher at 6,356.19, on track for a seventh straight day in positive territory.

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