Wall Street Poised To Open Lower

The Producer Price data and Weekly Jobless Claims might be the major highlights on Thursday.

Tariff worries are continuing after Canada and the EU retaliated against U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs.

In the Asian trading session, gold moved higher, while oil prices eased.

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

As of 8.10 am ET, the Dow futures were down 120 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 22.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were falling 114.50 points.

The U.S. major averages finished higher. The Nasdaq finished 212.35 points or 1.2 percent higher to 17,648.45. The S&P 500 also climbed 27.23 points or 0.5 percent to 5,599.30, although the narrower Dow bucked the uptrend and dipped 82.55 points or 0.2 percent to 41,350.93.

On the economic front, the Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 230K, while it was 221K in the prior week.

The PPI-Final Demand for February will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.3 percent, while it was up 0.4 percent in the prior month.

The Quarterly Services Survey for the fourth quarter will be published at 10.00 am ET. In the prior quarter, the selected services revenue was up 1.1 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 down 80 bcf.

Ten-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities or TIPS auction will be held at 11.00 am ET.

Twenty-year Treasury Bond auction will be held at 11.00 am ET. 30-year Treasury Bond auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week is expected at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the Level was at $6.757 trillion.

Asian stocks ended lower on Thursday. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.4 percent to 3,358.73. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.6 percent to 23,462.65.

Japanese markets ended little changed. The Nikkei 225 Index finished marginally lower at 36,790.03, while the broader Topix Index settled 0.1 percent higher at 2,698.36.

Australian markets ended lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.5 percent to 7,749.10. The broader All Ordinaries Index settled 0.5 percent lower at 7,966.60.

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