U.S. stocks opened little changed on Thursday, as investors digested a batch of newly-released economic data ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

On the economic front, in the week ending Sept. 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for state unemployment benefits stood at 260,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 259,000, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.

The advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August were 456.3 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 0.3 percent from the previous month, according to the Commerce Department.

The Producer Price Index for final demand was unchanged in August, seasonally adjusted, missing market expectations, the Labor Department said.

U.S. industrial production decreased 0.4 percent in August, falling more than the expected 0.3 percent, after rising 0.6 percent in July, announced the Federal Reserve.

Financial markets have been choppy in recent sessions on contrasting remarks by Fed officials before the central bank's meeting next week. The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's monetary policy arm, is set to meet on Sept. 20-21.

Shortly after Thursday's opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 16.85 points, or 0.09 percent, to 18,017.92. The S&P 500 was down 3.12 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,122.65. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.94 points, or 0.06 percent, to 5,176.72.

U.S. stocks wavered and closed mixed on Wednesday, following a more than 1 percent sell-off on Tuesday, as Wall Street still pondered when the Fed would hike interest rates.

Source : XINHUA