Futures Points To Broadly Higher Open For Wall Street

Investor interest might be around the reports on weekly jobless claims, labor productivity and costs, manufacturing activity and construction spending on Thursday. Earnings reports also will get attention today.

Asian shares finished mixed, while European shares are trading mostly lower.
In the Asian trading session, gold dipped from a two-week peak while oil extended overnight gains.

Early trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly up.

As of 8.15 am ET, the Dow futures were declining 9.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 23.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 92.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished higher on Wednesday. The Nasdaq soared 451.98 points or 2.6 percent to 17,599.40, more than offsetting the 1.3 percent slump seen during yesterday’s session. The S&P 500 also jumped 85.86 points or 1.6 percent to 5,522.30, while the Dow rose 99.46 points or 0.2 percent to 40,842.79.

On the economic front, the Jobless Claims for the week is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 236K, while it was up 235K in the prior week.

The Productivity and Costs for the second quarter will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is up 1.6 percent, while it was up 0.2 percent in the prior quarter.

The PMI Manufacturing Final for July will be released at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is 49.5, while it was up 51.6 in June.
The ISM Manufacturing Index for July will be issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 48.8, while it was up 48.5 in the prior week.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Natural Gas Report for the quarter is expected at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was up 22 bcf.

The Fed Balance sheet for the week is scheduled at 4.30 am ET. In the prior week, the level was at $7.206 trillion.

Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday.

China’s Shanghai Composite index dipped 0.22 percent to 2,932.39 after the Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 49.8 last month from 51.8 in June.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 0.23 percent to 17,304.96.

Japanese markets plummeted as the yen’s further appreciation to the 148 level against the U.S. dollar clouded the outlook for the country’s exporters.

The Nikkei average briefly plunged over 3 percent before ending 2.49 percent lower at 38,126.33, dragged down by auto, electronic and real estate stocks. The broader Topix index settled 3.24 percent lower at 2,703.69.

Toyota Motor slumped 8.5 percent despite posting a 17 percent rise in first-quarter operating profit, in line with expectations.

The yen hit a four-month high versus the dollar, a day after the BOJ chief signaled the possibility of a further interest rate hike.

Seoul stocks eked out modest gains, with the Kospi average rising 0.25 percent to 2,777.68 – extending gains for a second day running led by shipbuilders and battery shares.

Hanwha Ocean surged 6.7 percent, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering rallied 2.9 percent, Samsung SDI jumped 4.5 percent and LG Energy Solution added 2.9 percent.

Australian markets ended at a record high for a second consecutive session, with miners and real estate stocks leading the surge ahead of next week’s RBA’s rate decision.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.28 percent to 8,114.70 while the broader All Ordinaries index edged up 0.28 percent to 8,343.80.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index gained 0.67 percent to close at 12,487.94, crawling towards a 30-month high.

U.S. stocks rallied overnight as investors cheered Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish remarks and upbeat earnings from the likes of AMD, Starbucks and DuPont.

After keeping the key interest rate unchanged at a 23-year high, Powell said that recent progress on inflation and cooling in the labor market could put the September rate cut on the table.

The heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 2.6 percent, helped by a revival in tech stocks led by Meta and Nvidia.

The S&P 500 rallied 1.6 percent to post its best daily performance since February and the Dow edged up 0.2 percent.

European shares are trading mostly higher. CAC 40 of France is down 85.66 points or 1.14 percent. DAX of Germany is declining 197.81 points or 1.07 percent. FTSE 100 of England is down 1.88 points or 0.02 percent. The Swiss Market Index is up 35.42 points or 0.29 percent.

Euro Stoxx 50 that provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is down 0.93 percent.

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