Futures Suggests That Wall Street Might Open Broadly Lower

The weekly Jobless Claims and Pending Home Sales are the major economic announcements on Thursday.

President Trump’s new announcements on the latest tariff policies are closely watched by investors.

In the Asian trading hours, gold ticked higher, while oil prices dipped.

Asian shares finished mixed, while European shares are trading in the negative zone.

Early cues on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly lower.

As of 8.15 am ET, the Dow futures were up 34.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 7.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were tumbling 55.25 points.

The U.S. major averages closed lower on Wednesday. The Nasdaq plunged 372.84 points or 2.0 percent to 17,889.01, the S&P 500 slumped 64.45 points or 1.1 percent to 5,712.20 and the Dow fell 132.71 points or 0.3 percent to 42,454.79.

On the economic front, the Gross Domestic Product or GDP for the fourth quarter will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 2.4 percent, while it was up 2.3 percent in the prior quarter.

The International Trade in Goods (Advance) for February will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $135.5 billion, while the deficit in the prior month was $153.3 billion.

The Labor Department’s Jobless Claims for the week will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 225K, while it was up 223K in the previous week.

The Corporate Profits for the fourth quarter is expected at 8.30 am ET.

National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sale Index for February will be issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 2.9 percent, while it was down 4.6 percent in January.

Seven-year Treasury Note auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be published at 4.30 am ET. In the prior week, the Level wa at $6.756 trillion.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday. China’s Composite index edged up by 0.15 percent to 3,373.75. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.41 percent to close at 23,578.80.

Japanese markets ended notably lower. The Nikkei average fell 0.60 percent to 37,799.97 while the broader Topix index settled marginally higher at 2,815.47.

Australian markets ended lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.38 percent to 7,969 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.48 percent lower at 8,185.50.

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