Futures Point To Positive Open For Wall Street

Economic announcements, especially weekly Jobless Claims, shall be the focus on Thursday. Earnings reports also might get special attention.

Asian shares finished mostly higher, while European shares are trading broadly lower.
Initial signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open positive.

As of 7.50 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 42.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were up 3.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were gaining 20.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished Wednesday on opposite sides of the unchanged line. The Nasdaq fell 51.08 points or 0.4 percent to 13,582.43, the Dow rose 97.31 points or 0.3 percent to 34,230.34 and the S&P 500 inched up 2.93 points or 0.1 percent to 4,167.59.

On the economic front, the Labor Department’s Jobless Claims for the week will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 533K, while it was at 553K in the previous week.

The Labor Department’s Productivity and Costs for the first quarter will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 3.7 percent, while it was down 4.2 percent in the previous quarter.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Natural Gas Report for the week will be issued at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was up 15 bcf.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be published at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the level was at $7.781 trillion.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams to give opening and closing remarks before the New York Fed Web Series on Culture: Purpose and the Employee as Stakeholder at 9.00 am ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will participate in a moderated question-and-answer session before the virtual 29th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the U.S. and World Economies at 10.00 am ET. Robert Kaplan will participate in a moderated conversation on national and global economic issues before the virtual Global Perspectives series hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas at 6.05 pm ET.

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester to participate in fireside chat before virtual University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Economic Forecast Project at 1.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks turned in mostly higher on Thursday amid cautious optimism around the economic reopening in the developed world.

Chinese shares ended slightly lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index slid 5.57 points, or 0.16 percent, to 3,441.28, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 219.48 points, or 0.77 percent, to 28,637.46.

Japanese shares posted strong gains. The Nikkei average climbed 518.74 points, or 1.80 percent, to 29,331.37. The broader Topix index settled 1.54 percent higher at 1,927.40.

Australian markets closed lower, and the Aussie dollar took a beating after China said it would end economic dialogue with Canberra. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 34.10 points, or 0.48 percent, to 7,061.70, while the broader All Ordinaries index ended down 38.20 points, or 0.52 percent, at 7,306.

European shares are trading mostly lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is down 5.37 points or 0.08 percent. The German DAX is losing 17.50 points or 0.12 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is sliding 5.36 points or 0.08 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is down 21.01 points or 0.19 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.31 percent.

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