Wall Street Aims To Open Broadly Up

Jobless Claims for the week, Consumer Price Index for May, and Fed Balance Sheet for the week are the major highlights on Thursday.

Asian shares finished broadly higher, while European shares are trading lower.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly higher.

As of 7.45 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 51.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were progressing 0.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 37.00 points.

U.S. stocks closed slightly lower on Wednesday. The Dow ended down by 152.68 points or 0.44 percent at 34,447.14. The S&P 500 closed lower by 7.71 points or 0.18 percent at 4,219.55, while the tech-laden Nasdaq edged down 13.16 points or 0.09 percent to 13,911.75.

On the economic front, the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index for May will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.4 percent, while it was up 0.8 percent in the prior month.

The Labor Department’s Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 18.30 am ET. The consensus is for 369K, while it was up 385K in the prior week.

The Census Bureau’s quarterly services survey for the first quarter will be released at 10.00 am ET. In the prior quarter, the selected services revenue was up 2.4 percent.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Natural Gas Report for the week is scheduled at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was up 98 bcf.

The five-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities or TIPS auction will be released at 11.00 am ET.

Twenty-year Treasury Bond auction will be held at 11.00 am ET.

Thirty-year Treasury Bond auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

The Department of Treasury’s State for May is expected at 2.00 pm ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $230 billion, while in the prior month, the deficit was $225.6 billion.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be released at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the balance sheet was up $7.936 trillion.

Asian stocks ended mostly higher on Thursday. Chinese shares gained ground.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index rose 19.46 points, or 0.54 percent, to 3,610.86 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended marginally lower at 28,738.88.

Japanese shares rose on the day. The Nikkei average gained 97.76 points, or 0.34 percent, to settle at 28,958.56, while the broader Topix ended marginally lower at 1,956.73.

Australian markets advanced. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 inched up 32.30 points, or 0.44 percent, to 7,302.50 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 36.80 points, or 0.49 percent, at 7,558.80.

European shares are trading mostly lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is down 21.87 points or 0.33 percent. The German DAX is losing 14.54 points or 0.12 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is gaining 6.84 points or 0.11 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is sliding 1.71 points or 0.01 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.35 percent.

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