New York, Feb 20 (IANS): US stocks opened lower on Thursday as Wall Street digested the latest information that the Federal Reserve released.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 50.03 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 29,298.00. The S&P 500 was down 5.36 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 3,380.79, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 11.12 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 9,806.05.
The US central bank released the minutes of the Federal Reserve's January 28-29 meeting on Wednesday afternoon, which showed little intention of easing policy soon.
Traders have been pricing in at least one rate cut from the Fed for this year, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
On the data front, US initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, registered 210,000 for the week ending February 15, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday.
The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 205,000 to 206,000.