Wednesday, ahead of Federal Chairman Jerome Powell’s second day of testimony and announcements of major economic reports such as weekly jobless claims and the U.S. trade deficit, Wall Street might open higher.
As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were progressing 33.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were up 12.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were gaining 76.00 points.
The U.S. major averages finished Wednesday in positive territory. The Nasdaq climbed 91.95 points or 0.6 percent to 16,031.54, the S&P 500 rose 26.1 points or 0.5 percent to 5,104.76 and the Dow edged up 75.86 points or 0.2 percent to 38,661.05.
On the economic front, The International Trade in Goods and Services for January will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $63.7 billion, while the deficit was $62.2 billion in the prior month.
The Jobless Claims for the week will be released at 8.30 am ET The consensus is for 215K, while it was at 215K in the prior week.
The Productivity and Costs for the fourth quarter is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 3.1 percent, while it was up 3.2 percent in the prior quarter.
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 down 96 bcf.
The Consumer Credit for January will be released at 3.00 pm ET. The consensus is up $9.3 billion, while it was up $1.6 billion in the previous month.
The Fed Balance Sheet is expected at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the level was at $7.568 trillion.
Federal Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver semiannual monetary policy testimony before the Senate Banking Committee at 10.00 am ET.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester to speak virtually on the economic outlook as part of the European Economics and Financial Centre’s Distinguished Speaker Series at 11.30 am ET.
Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday. Chinese and Hong Kong markets also ended lower.
China’s Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.41 percent to 3,027.40. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.27 percent to 16,229.
Japanese markets lost ground on Thursday. The Nikkei average shed 1.23 percent to close at 39,598.71 while the broader Topix index settled 0.44 percent lower at 2,718.54.
Australian stocks advanced led by financial stocks. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 rose 0.39 percent to 7,763.70 and the broader All Ordinaries index settled up 0.46 percent at 8,026.70.
Business News
Futures Suggest Higher Open For Wall Street
2024-03-07 13:17:22
