US Stocks Open Lower Thursday

(AP) -- Stocks are slightly lower Thursday, pulled down by banks and technology companies. Investors continue to focus on individual companies as the quarterly earnings reporting season rolls on.

The S&P 500 was down 0.3% as of 9:50 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3% and the Nasdaq was down 0.4%. The S&P 500 closed higher Wednesday, ending a two-day slide, but it's still down for the week.

Investors got another dose of company earnings on Thursday. AT&T rose 4% after reporting results that beat expectations, helped by higher wireless phone charges as well as the success of its streaming service HBOMax.

Whirlpool and Equifax also rose after reporting strong results. Union Pacific fell after the railroad operator reported a 9% drop in profit.

Credit Suisse dropped 3.5% after the Swiss bank announced it would issue more stock to help it recover from the losses it suffered because of the implosion of a hedge fund earlier this year. Credit Suisse had been a primary backer of Archegos Capital Management, which collapsed last month after several of its bets went sour.

Investors will be looking to Intel after the closing bell when the chip giant reports its quarterly results.

Investors got a bit of good news on the economy when the Labor Department reported that the number of Americans filing for unemployment fell again last week. Unemployment claims were 547,000, the lowest point since the pandemic struck and an encouraging sign that layoffs are slowing.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury was unchanged at 1.56%.