Wall Street Set To Open Moderately Positive

Weekly jobless claims, the U.S. Trade Deficit, and Factory Orders might be the highlights on Thursday.

Initial cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open positive.

Asian shares closed higher, while European shares are trading mostly up.

As of 8.00 am ET, the Dow futures were up 59.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 9.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 42.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished broadly up on Wednesday. The Dow edged down 48.20 points or 0.1 percent to 35,312.53, the Nasdaq rose 50.15 points or 0.3 percent to 15,309.38 and the S&P 500 inched up 1.41 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 4,524.09.

On the economic front, the Commerce Department’s International Trade in Goods and Services for July will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $74.1 billion, while the deficit was at $75.7 billion in the previous month.

The Labor Department’s Jobless Claims for the week will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 350K, while it was up 353K in the prior week.

The Labor Department’s Productivity and Costs for the second quarter are scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 2.4 percent, while it was up 2.3 percent in the previous month.

The Commerce Department’s Factory Orders for July will be issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.3 percent, while it was up 1.5 percent in June.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Natural Gas Report for the week is expected at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was at 29 bcf.

Three-year, ten-year Treasury Note auction and the 30-year Treasury Bond auction will be held at 11.00 am ET.

Fed Balance Sheet for the week is scheduled at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the level was at $8.333 trillion.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday. Chinese stocks rose notably. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index climbed 29.94 points, or 0.84 percent, to 3,597.04 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged up 62.14 points, or 0.24 percent, to 26,090.43.

Japanese shares rose for the fourth day. The Nikkei average rose 92.49 points, or 0.33 percent, to 28,543.51, while the broader Topix index closed 0.14 percent higher at 1,983.57.

Australian markets ended lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 hit a two-week low before ending the session down 41.40 points, or 0.55 percent, at 7,485.70. The broader All Ordinaries index slipped 29.20 points, or 0.37 percent, to 7,783.80.

European shares are trading mostly higher. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is progressing 4.93 points or 0.07 percent. The German DAX is adding 4.31 points or 0.02 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is sliding 7.16 points or 0.10 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is adding 21.60 points or 0.17 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.007 percent.