How the Dow Jones industrial average fared on Thursday

Stocks are opening slightly lower in the U.S.as energy companies slide along with the price of crude oil.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 120.72 points, or 0.7%, at 17,419.75, for its sixth-straight day of losses, its longest losing streak since October.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 12.03 (0.57 per cent) at 2,105.35, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 30.61 (0.60 per cent) to 5,136.15.

U.S. equities were lower overnight as traders mulled over Greece, China and US manufacturing data for last month (July), which showed a weakening from recent highs.

Investors are cautious as they await Friday’s employment report and what the data will mean for the timing of a potential rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

LONDON – Europe’s main stock markets diverged as investors react to the fallout from the plunge of banking shares on the Athens stock exchange.

After the bell, shares of Tenet Healthcare rose 2.3 per cent as the company’s second-quarter report pleased investors. The Pound Sterling declined 0.6 percent lower than the U.S. dollar and the Euro. The meat producer slumped $4.39, or 9.9 percent, to $39.96 after cutting its outlook for fiscal 2015 earnings.

First Solar surged 16.7 percent as it reported second-quarter earnings of $94.5 million, up from $4.5 million in the year-ago period, on a 65 percent rise in revenues.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.18 per cent, or 37.13 points, to finish at 20,548.11, while Seoul fell 21.67 points or 1.07 per cent to close at 2,008.49.

The Nasdaq is up 403.89 points, or 8.5 per cent. Frontier said it was on track to complete a deal to buy Verizon’s wire line operations in California, Florida and Texas. Shire fell 4.7 percent. It projected flat-to-one percent growth in sales in fiscal 2016. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.19 percent.

“Disney has had such a tremendous move in the past months that a setback within the stock price should not be a surprise”, said Morganlander.