U.S. stocks
opened lower on Thursday closely tracking declining global equities and
commodities.
The S&P 500 opened 11 points, or 0.5%, lower at 2,063. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 125 points, or 0.7, to 17,576. The Nasdaq Composite began the day down 24 points, or 0.5%, at 5,042.
Oil futures continued their slide, falling nearly 3% on
top of yesterday's 3% drop.
December Nymex crude oil futures last traded at $41.90 per barrel, down 2.4%.
Brent futures for January delivery lost 1.91% to trade at $45.78 a barrel.
Meanwhile, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard
said it was prudent to raise rates and shrink the Federal Reserve’s
balance sheet toward more “normal settings”.
Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker said earlier Thursday that a weak Philips curve relationship does not reduce the Federal Reserve's ability to determine inflation over time. The Phillips Curve is the relationship between unemployment and inflation. In the simplest definition, the lower that unemployment goes, the higher inflation goes.
