New York (AFP)

The New York Stock Exchange traded in loose order Thursday shortly after the opening, with the Nasdaq rebounding ahead, while the Dow Jones lagged behind.

At 2:15 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones dropped 0.23%, the Nasdaq was up 0.65% and the S&P 500 was up 0.11%.

Wednesday in a session at very low volumes, the Dow Jones index rose 0.05% to 33,446.26 points.

The technology-intensive Nasdaq fell 0.07% to 13,688.84 points.

The S&P 500 had set a new record at 4,079.95 (+ 0.15%).

"Trade is mixed at the start of the session, after the disappointing figures for weekly jobless claims but the Nasdaq opens solidly," said Schwab analysts.

Weekly claims for unemployment benefits increased surprisingly for the second week in a row to 744,000 as analysts predicted 678,000.

The markets were also digesting the message from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in the minutes of its last monetary meeting on March 17, which "reiterated that it would take time before conditions allow a tightening of monetary policy", also stressed Wells Fargo analysts.

Most Monetary Committee participants felt that "the risks around the outlook for inflation were balanced," the report said.

Yields on 10-year Treasuries were down to around 1.63% shortly after the opening.

Fed President Jerome Powell was also due to attend meetings of the International Monetary Fund in Washington on Thursday, during a debate with the institution's CEO Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President David Malpass.

The day before, the market had been "brightened", according to Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com, by the letter from Jamie Dimon, the boss of JPMorgan Chase, to his shareholders.

"The US economy is expected to flourish through 2023," the powerful leader wrote, citing the US administration's massive stimulus spending, infrastructure law and "the euphoria around the end of the pandemic" as main engines.

He described a saving of "golden loops" for the next two years.

The big names in tech pulled the increase Thursday morning, Apple, Amazon, Telsa increasing by more than 1%.

The share of video game store chain GameStop, on a roller coaster since the start of the year, was up 0.54% after the announcement of Ryan Cohen's next election as chairman of the board of directors.

The latter is the co-founder of the popular chewy pet product sales site and wants the chain of stores to expand its online presence.

© 2021 AFP