U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday, with the S&P 500 up slightly, as investors weighed a reading from the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge as well as a government report on jobless claims. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
was up 0.3% soon after the opening bell, while the S&P 500
SPX,
rose 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
gained 0.3%, according to FactSet data, at last check.
Inflation, as measured by the personal-consumption-expenditures price index, rose 0.2% in July, according to data released Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Core PCE, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge that excludes energy and food prices, also increased 0.2% last month, in line with forecasts from economists. The core inflation rate was up 4.2% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims fell 4,000 to 228,000 in the week ended Aug. 26, the Labor Department said Thursday.
