Wall Street Set To Open Lower

The weekly jobless claims, labor productivity and costs, service sector activity, and factory orders might be the major attraction on Thursday.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms (FB), Metlife (MET), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Spotify (SPOT) have scheduled their earnings reports after the close of today’s trading.

Asian shares finished mostly lower, while European shares are trading down.

The pre-market trends on Thursday point to lower open for Wall Street.
As of 7.10 am ET, the Dow futures were declining 85.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were down 49.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were declining 336.25 points.

The U.S. major averages all finished Thursday firmly in positive territory. The Dow climbed 224.09 points or 0.6 percent at 35,629.33, the Nasdaq rose 71.54 points or 0.5 percent to 14,417.55 and the S&P 500 advanced 42.84 points or 0.9 percent to 4,589.38.

On the economic front, the Labor Department’s Jobless Claims for the week will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 250K, while it was up 260K in the prior week.

The Labor Department’s Productivity and Costs for the fourth quarter will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 2.7 percent, while it was down 5.2 percent in the previous quarter.

The PMI Composite Final for January will be issued at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is 50.8, while it was up 50.9 in the previous month.

The Commerce Department’s Factory Orders for December will be released at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for a decline of 0.2 percent, while it was up 1.6 percent in November.

Institute for Supply Management or ISM’s Services Index for January will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for 60.0 while it was up 62.0 in the prior month.
The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Natural Gas Report for the week will be revealed at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was down 219 bcf.

Asian stocks retreated on Thursday. Chinese and Hong Kong markets were closed for the Lunar New Year.

Japanese shares snapped a four-day rally. The Nikkei average fell 292.29 points, or 1.06 percent, to 27,241.31, while the broader Topix index closed 0.86 percent lower at 1,919.92.

Australian markets ended slightly lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slipped 9.70 points, or 0.14 percent, to 7,078 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended down 25 points, or 0.34 percent, at 7,374.60.

European shares are trading lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is sliding 22.63 points or 0.32 percent. The German DAX is losing 79.15 points or 0.51 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is declining 30.14 points or 0.41 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is down 60.77 points or 0.49 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.67 percent.

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