Stocks - Wall Street Treads Water Ahead of Earnings Deluge

Investing.com - U.S. stocks were little changed in early trading on Wall Street following economic data that served to support the current status quo without changing the overall game plan for risk sentiment.

At 9:40 AM ET (13:40 GMT), the Dow Jones held steady at 26,153.58 points, the S&P 500 hardly moved at 2,889.39 points, while the Nasdaq Composite stuck to 7,962.06 points.

Weekly jobless claims released ahead of the open continued to show the strength of the U.S. labor market, hitting their lowest level since 1969.

Meanwhile, a slowdown in producer price inflation, excluding food and energy, appeared to support the Federal Reserve’s current outlook that interest rates would likely remain on hold for the rest of the year.

In a speech delivered at the market open, Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida proclaimed that “the U.S. economy is in a good place and operating close to both of the Federal Reserve's dual-mandate objectives of maximum employment and price stability”.

Construction supplies group Fastenal stood out after early trading, rising 4.2% and leading the Nasdaq 100 after reporting better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.

By contrast, drugstore chain Rite Aid was down 9.1% after reporting it swung to a loss in the quarter, after suffering a 0.3% drop in sales. The company also said it expects further weakness in drug reimbursement rates and lower savings from generic drugs.

The first-quarter earnings season begins in earnest on Friday, with reports from JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) ahead of the open.

Outside of equities, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, rose 0.1% to 96.69 by 9:43 AM ET (13:43 GMT), while the while the yield on the 10-year Treasury advanced 1.3 basis points to 2.49%.

In commodities, gold futures fell 0.9% to $1,301.55 a troy ounce, while crude oil traded down 0.8% at $64.11 a barrel.

-- Reuters contributed to this report.

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