NEW YORK - US stocks fell at the opening on Thursday as a series of big job-slashing announcements soured sentiment and prompted investors to lock in recent gains.

In the first exchanges, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 79.01 points (0.92 per cent) to 8,512.68 following two strong rallies.

The Nasdaq composite retreated 19.94 points (1.34 per cent) to 1,472.44 and the broad-market Standard & Poor?s 500 fell 10.46 points (1.20 per cent) to 860.28.

As the market opened, investors learned that telecommunications giant AT&T announced was cutting 12,000 jobs and slashing capital spending due to an economic downturn.

Job cuts were also announced by media giant Viacom and chemical maker DuPont.

A government report showed a drop in the number of new unemployment claims in the past week, but the level remained high at 509,000.

'The market shook off a lot of discouraging headlines yesterday to end higher,' said Patrick O?Hare at Briefing.com.

'Whether it can do so again today remains to be seen, but it will have its work cut out for it as the headlines again leave a lot to be desired.' -- AFP