US stocks open lower, pulling back after streak of gains

Wall Street stocks opened lower Thursday as the June rally showed signs of fatigue, while the US reported another jump in joblessness and the European Central Bank unveiled aggressive stimulus.

About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 26,185.39, down 0.3 percent.

The broad-based S&P 500 also shed 0.3 percent to 3,112.96, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped less than 0.1 percent to 9,681.49.

Another 1.9 million people applied for jobless claims last week, the Department of Labor reported, taking the total to more than 42 million in the wake of coronavirus shutdowns.

Meanwhile, the ECB surprised with a bigger-than-expected boost to their pandemic emergency bond-buying scheme, adding 600 billion euros and extending it until mid-2021.

Major indices have risen this week, shrugging off weak economic data, worries over US-China relations and mass protests in the US following the police killing of an unarmed black man in the city of Minneapolis.

Analysts have credited buying momentum for the market's buoyancy this week, driven by expectations for a US economic rebound and massive Federal Reserve stimulus that has boosted market liquidity.