Daily Times

Wall Street stocks were mostly higher early Thursday ahead of key US jobs data as IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva warned of rising global recession risk. Investors are looking ahead to Friday’s US jobs report, expected to show the world’s biggest economy added 250,000 positions in September and that unemployment held steady at 3.7 percent. After a bruising September, stocks are higher for the week so far as investors express hopes the Federal Reserve will soon pivot from its aggressive policies to counter inflation. Ahead of meetings with international policy makers in Washington, Georgieva urged officials to address “the most immediate challenges,” including fighting inflation, but warned that excessive actions by central banks could trigger a “prolonged” economic downturn. About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1 percent at 30,243.30. The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.1 percent at 3,786.39, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.5 percent to 11,202.35. Among individual companies, Amazon dipped 0.2 percent after announcing it will hire 150,000 employees in the United States in full-time and seasonal roles for the upcoming holiday season.