S&P 500 Index opens higher despite dismal US data

• Wall Street's main indexes trade in the positive territory on Thursday.
• US economy grew at a softer pace than expected in the second quarter.
• Energy shares post strong gains after the opening bell.

Major equity indexes in the US opened higher on Thursday as investors ignored uninspiring data releases from the US. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was up 0.47% on the day at 4,421, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was rising 0.55% at 35,123 and the Nasdaq Composite was gaining 0.4% at 15,079.

The US Bureau of Economic Analysis' first estimate showed on Thursday that the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded at an annualized rate of 6.5% in the second quarter. This reading missed the market expectation of 8.5% by a wide margin. Other data from the US revealed that there were 400,000 Initial Jobless Claims in the week ending July 24, compared to analysts' estimate of 380,000.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index is up 0.9%. On the other hand, the Communication Services Index is the only sector trading in the red after the opening bell, losing 0.35%.

S&P 500 chart (daily)