US stocks slammed during opening hour of trade

Major US equity indices witnessed a weaker opening on Thursday, weighed down by renewed weakness in technology stocks and escalating geopolitical tensions. 

During opening hour of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down over 100-points to 21,365, and the broader S&P 500 Index lost nearly 15-points to 2,417. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index underperformed the markets and dropped over 50-points to 6,095.

Today's weaker-than-expected economic reports on private-sector employment and weekly jobless claims did little to boost investors' sentiment. ADP report showed private sector employers added 153K new jobs during June (185K expected), while initial jobless claims unexpectedly increased by 4,000 to 248K. 

Among individual movers, shares of Tesla, electric car maker extended recent losses led by a disappointing sales delivery data and fell nearly 2.5% on Thursday following a Goldman Sachs downgrade.

Next on tap would be the release of ISM non-manufacturing PMI print for June but investors’ focus would remain glued to the official monthly jobs data, popularly known as NFP, due for release during early NA session on Friday.