Wall Street opens little changed after BoE cuts rates

Wall Street was little changed on Thursday after the Bank of England cut its main lending rate to a record low and revived its bond-buying program.

The BoE lowered the rate to 0.25% from 0.5% and said it would take "whatever action is necessary" to achieve stability in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose to 269,000 last week, but the trend continued to point to a healthy labor market. Analysts had forecast claims to drop by 1,000 to 265,000.

A recent set of strong economic data, including Wednesday's private sector hiring numbers, can strengthen the case for the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

However, a lot hinges on the more comprehensive monthly jobs data, which is expected on Friday.

"There is a little bit of order being restored in the market today, but (it) is in a wait-and-see period ahead of the jobs report," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive officer at Sarhan Capital.

Investors are positioning themselves for little chance of a Fed rate hike anytime soon, Sarhan said.

Traders have priced in a paltry 12% chance of a rate hike in September and a 35% chance in December, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.

At 9:31 a.m. ET (1331 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 30.27 points, or 0.16%, at 18,385.27.

The S&P 500 was up 0.85 points, or 0.04%, at 2,164.64.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.83 points, or 0.02%, at 5,158.91.

Six of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, led by a 0.24% gain in the consumer staples index.

The US Commerce Department will release its report on manufacturing goods at 10:00 a.m. ET. The report is likely to show that new orders for factory goods fell 1.8%in June.

Apple's stock rose 0.4% at $105.69 and was the biggest driver of the S&P and the Nasdaq, while United Technologies' 0.6%rise boosted the Dow.

Transocean rose 5.6% after its quarterly revenue beat analysts' estimates.

Ball Corp jumped 8.5% after its quarterly sales rose and was the top percentage gainer on the S&P 500.

Twenty-First Century Fox fell 4.7% after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly profit, but higher costs held back gains.

LinkedIn which has agreed to be bought by Microsoft, and Kraft Heinz are scheduled to report after the bell.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,708 to 885. On the Nasdaq, 1,395 issues rose and 840 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed seven new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and six new lows.