Stocks are likely to come under pressure in early trading on Thursday, extending the notable downward move seen over the past several sessions. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the Dow futures down by 165 points.
Lingering concerns about higher interest rates and the impact on the global economy are likely to continue to weigh on the markets.
Disappointing manufacturing data out of Europe and Asia is likely to add to worries about the potential for a global recession.
A steep drop by shares of Nvidia (NVDA) may also weigh on the markets, with the graphics chipmaker slumping by 4.4 percent in pre-market trading.
The decline by Nvidia comes after the company warned approximately $400 million in potential sales to China could be impacted by new U.S. licensing requirements on shipments of some of its most advanced chips.
Fellow chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) said some of its chips would also be impacted by the new requirements.
Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to Friday’s closely watched monthly jobs report.
The report, which is expected to show employment jumped by 300,000 jobs in August after surging by 528,000 jobs in July, could impact the outlook for interest rates.
With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report this morning unexpectedly showing a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 27th.
The report showed initial jobless claims edged down to 232,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 237,000.
The dip came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to inch up to 248,000 from the 243,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Shortly after the start of trading, the Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release its report on manufacturing activity in the month of August.
The ISM’s manufacturing PMI is expected to slip to 52.0 in August from 52.8 in July, although a reading above 50 would still indicate growth in the sector.
The Commerce Department is also due to release its report on construction spending in the month of July. Construction spending is expected to edge down by 0.1 percent.
Stocks came under pressure over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, extending the notable downward move seen in the past few sessions. The major averages showed a lack of direction early in the session but eventually slid firmly into negative territory.
The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the session at their worst levels of the day. The Dow slid 280.44 points or 0.9 percent to 31,510.43, the Nasdaq fell 66.93 points or 0.6 percent to 11,816.20 and the S&P 500 dropped 31.16 points or 0.8 percent to 3,955.00.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.5 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.5 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index has slumped by 1.1 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both down by 1.3 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are sliding $1.54 to $88.01 a barrel after tumbling $2.09 to $89.55 a barrel a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after falling $10.10 to $1,726.20 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are declining $15.10 to $1,711.10 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 139.59 yen versus the 138.96 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $0.9996 compared to yesterday’s $1.0054.
Business News
U.S. Stocks Poised To Extend Recent Sell-Off
2022-09-01 12:55:30
