U.S. stocks edged lower in early trading Thursday as Delta Air Lines led a rally in airline stocks after releasing a solid outlook for the rest of this year and new government data showed fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%. The benchmark index remains near the record it set last week after a better-than-expected June jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 55 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:03 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% lower a day after climbing to an all-time high.
Bond yields were mostly higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.36%, up from 4.34% late Wednesday.
Delta surged 12%, bringing other airlines along with it, after beating Wall Street’s revenue and profit targets. The Atlanta airline also gave a more optimistic view for the remaining summer travel season than it had just a couple months ago.
