NEW YORK, Oct 21 — Wall Street stocks paused after a series of strong sessions early today as markets digested more solid earnings reports and data showing lower jobless claims.

Shares of American Airlines, Tesla and Union Pacific were all up somewhat following earnings results, but the Dow and S&P 500 inched lower after finishing near all-time records on Wednesday.

Equities have been rallying over the last week following a run of good earnings reports that have offset worries about higher US inflation causing a shift to more restrictive monetary policy.

About 35 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 per cent at 35,530.14.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent to 4,533.05, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.2 per cent to 15,149.56.

New unemployment claims fell 6,000 to 290,000, seasonally adjusted, in the week ended October 16, the lowest level since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. That was just before the spread of Covid-19 sent them surging into the millions amid mass layoffs, the Labor Department reported. — AFP