Futures Pointing To Roughly Flat Open On Wall Street

After ending the previous session mostly lower, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by just 0.1 percent.

The lack of momentum on Wall Street comes even though the House voted Wednesday night to approve the bill raising the U.S. debt ceiling.

The House voted 314 to 117 in favor of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, with the legislation attracting support from both Democrats and Republicans.

The legislation now heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he hopes lawmakers can work quickly and bring the bill to the president’s desk “as soon as possible.”

With likely passage of the bill easing concerns about a potential default, traders may now be turning their attention to the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

The jobs data could have an impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy meeting later this month.

Payroll processor ADP released a report this morning showing private sector employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in the month of May.

The report said private sector employment shot up by 278,000 jobs in May after surging by a revised 291,000 jobs in April.

Economists had expected private sector employment to increase by 170,000 jobs compared to the spike of 296,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a report showing a slight increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended May 27th.

The report said initial jobless claims crept up to 232,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 230,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 235,000 from the 229,000 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 May. The manufacturing PMI is expected to edge down to 47.0 in May from 47.1 in April, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction.

The Commerce Department is also due to release its report on construction spending in the month of April. Construction spending is expected to inch up by 0.2 percent in April after rising by 0.2 percent in March.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Wednesday after languishing in negative territory throughout the day’s session. The major averages all ended with moderate losses despite coming off the day’s lows.

The Dow, which dropped to 32,739.73 around mid-morning, ended the session at 32,908.27 with a loss of 134.51 points or 0.4 percent. The S&P 500 settled with a loss of 25.69 points or 0.6 percent at 4,179.83, while the Nasdaq ended down 82.14 points or 0.6 percent at 12,935.29.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.8 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index has advanced by 0.9 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.4 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are rising $0.26 to $68.35 a barrel after slumping $1.37 to $68.09 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after inching up $5 to $1,982.10 ounce in the previous session, gold futures are slipping $1.30 to $1,980.80 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 139.33 yen versus the 139.34 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0696 compared to yesterday’s $1.0689.