Wall Street opens in the red despite fall in jobless claims

10am: Proactive North America headlines: Esports Entertainment Group Inc (NASDAQ:GMBL) (FRA:40Y1) inks esports partnership deal with the NFL’s Denver Broncos American Manganese Inc (CVE:AMY) (OTCQB:AMYZF) (FRA:2AM) awarded South Korean patent for its ground-breaking battery recycling technology awarded South Korean patent for its ground-breaking battery recycling technology Safe-T Group Ltd (NASDAQ:SFET) (TASE:SFET) partners with Philemon Security USA to distribute ZoneZero solution in North America Vuzix Corporation (NASDAQ:VUZI) (FRA:V7XN) receives initial deployment order for its M400 Smart Glasses from healthcare and surgical training solutions provider WeedMD Inc (CVE:WMD) (OTCQX:WDDMF) (FRA:4WE) debuts its first live resin extract product under the Pedro's Sweet Sativa brand Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp (CSE:CANN) (OTCQX:HERTF) (FRA:2UE) to launch ArthroCBD soft gel capsules; CBD product applications made with VESIsorb technology in US HempFusion Wellness Inc (TSE:CBD.U) (OTCQX:CBDHF) (FRA:8OO) completes its CBD pilot trial related to chronic inflammation Loncor Resources Inc (TSE:LN) (OTCQX:LONCF) (FRA:LO51) drills deepest hole on Adumbi deposit, revealing significant widths and gold grades in multiple zones Renforth Resources Inc (CSE:RFR) (OTCQB:RFHRF) (FRA:9RR) begins drilling at Victoria Nickel target Metalla Royalty & Streaming (NYSEAMERICAN:MTA) (CVE:MTA) (FRA:X9C) bags another two royalties in Argentina and Kirkland Lake, Ontario GR Silver Mining Ltd (CVE:GRSL) (OTCQB:GRSLF) (FRA:GPE) expands high-grade silver-gold bulk tonnage zones at Plomosas mine area ahead of resource estimate Exro Technologies Inc (CVE:EXRO) (OTCQB:EXROF) (FRA:1O2) to commercialize system solutions with Heinzmann motor integration TomaGold Corporation (CVE:LOT) (OTCMKTS:TOGOF) (FRA:OTM) set to begin 10,000m drill program at Obalski next month as latest assays continue to show project's potential NetCents Technology Inc (CSE:NC) (FRA:26N) (OTCQB:NTTCF) sees a surge in new partner sign-ups and leads 9.49am: Wall Street starts lower The main Wall Street indices kicked off Thursday’s session in negative territory despite a sharp drop in US jobless claims last week. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.44% at 32,276 while the S&P 500 dropped 0.38% to 3,873 and the Nasdaq fell 0.6% to 12,884. The slower start for the markets came as new US jobless claims data showed that 684,000 Americans filed for unemployment in the week to March 19, down from 781,000 the week before and the first time the figure has been below 700,000 since mid-March last year when the pandemic began to hit the US economy. However, continuous claims painted a bleaker picture, rising to 18.9mln from 18.2mln the week before and potentially indicating that a large portion for US workers are facing long-term unemployment, which in turn could hinder their integration back into the workforce post-pandemic. Claims also still remain above the highs seen during the 2008 financial crisis, suggesting the economic fallout of COVID-19 could be worse in the long-term than the last economic crash. 8:05am: Wall Street to make cautious start  Wall Street is expected to open slightly lower despite positive comments on the US economy in the past couple of days of congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Reversing early indications of a gain, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is forecast to start trading down 47 points at 32,373. The S&P 500 is expected to open 6 points lower at 3883 and the Nasdaq Composite down 16 points at 12,945. Ahead of the open come US growth figures and weekly jobless claims, both or either of which could have an impact on which way the US market ultimately goes. US GDP is forecast to have risen by an annualised 4.1% in the fourth quarter of last year, in line with the previous provisional estimate. Meanwhile, jobless claims are predicted to fall from 770,000 to 730,000, but these can sometimes produce a surprise. Three things to watch for on Thursday: The earnings calendar for Thursday is looking rather thin, with the only large cap results coming from Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI), which managed to beat estimates Shares in Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) could be in focus amid an ongoing boycott of western brands in China following sanctions from several nations on Communist officials accused of involvement in human rights abuses of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province Commodities and oil prices may also continue to attract attention as the Suez canal remains blocked by a grounded cargo tanker that became lodged there earlier this week