What to watch today: Stocks slightly lower after Wall Street’s strong start to September

What to watch today: Stocks slightly lower after Wall Street’s strong start to September

BY THE NUMBERSDow futures implied an opening decline Thursday after the 30-stock average surged 454 points, or 1.6%, to its first close above 29,000 since Feb. 20 and to about 1.5% away from its Feb. 12 record high. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also rallied Wednesday and closed at new record highs. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were tracking for solid gains for the week. September is picking up where the best August on Wall Street since the 1980s left off. (CNBC)Initial jobless claims are out at 8:30 ET, with economists forecasting 950,000 new filing for unemployment benefits. However, the figure will not be directly comparable to last week's 1 million claims because the Labor Department has changed how it seasonally adjusts the data. The reporting change begins this week.