Wall Street Poised To Open In Negative Territory

The first quarter GDP, the weekly jobless claims, and the pending home sales might get the attention of investors on Thursday.

Asian shares finished in lower, while European shares are trading mostly positive.
In the Asian trading session gold and oil prices were slightly lower.

Early cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might continue to open in a negative zone.

As of 8.05 am ET, the Dow futures were down 340.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 21.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 53.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished Wednesday firmly in negative territory. The Dow slumped 411.32 points or 1.1 percent to 38,441.54, the S&P 500 slid 39.09 points or 0.7 percent to 5,266.95 and the Nasdaq fell 99.30 points or 0.6 percent to 16,920.58.

On the economic front, the first quarter Gross Domestic Product or GDP will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for growth of 1.5 percent, while it was up 1.6 percent in the prior quarter.

The April International Trade in Goods (Advance) will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $92.5 billion, while the deficit was $91.8 billion in the prior month.

The Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is $217K, while it was up 215K in the previous week.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Petroleum Status Report for the week will be published at 11.00 am ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories were up 1.8 million barrels and the gasoline inventories were down 0.9 million barrels.

The Corporate Profits for the first quarter is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. In the prior quarter, the after-tax profits were 8.6 percent.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week is expected at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the Level was $7.30 trillion.

Asian stocks ended deep in the red on Thursday. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.6 percent to 3,091.68.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.3 percent to 18,230.19.

Japanese markets fell sharply. The Nikkei 224 Index slumped 1.3 percent to 38,054.13. The broader Topix Index closed 0.6 percent lower at 2,726.20.

Australian markets ended down. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 Index fell 0.5 percent to 7,628.20, while the broader All Ordinaries Index closed half a percent lower at 7,895.90.

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