U.S. stocks open lower as investors weigh jobless claims, labor productivity reports

U.S. stocks opened lower Thursday, as investors assessed data showing a slight rise in jobless claims as well as an economic report on labor productivity during the second quarter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.27%
was down 0.3% soon after the bell, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.48%
fell 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.45%
dropped 0.5%, according to FactSet data, at last check. Initial jobless claims rose by 6,000 to 227,000 in the week ended July 29, according to a Department of Labor report Thursday. Meanwhile, labor productivity increased during the second quarter at a 3.7% annual rate, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday.