Futures Pointing To A Mixed Open On Wall Street

Following the sell-off seen in the previous session, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a mixed open for the markets, as the Dow futures are up by 67 points but the Nasdaq futures are down by 83 points.

Traders may take a breather following the volatility seen in the previous session, which saw CBOE Market Volatility Index spike by 61.6 percent to its highest levels since before the elections.

Nonetheless, notable declines by Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA) may weigh on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which is poised to pull back further off Monday’s record highs.

Shares of Apple are down by 1.9 percent in pre-market trading after the tech giant reported better than expected fiscal first quarter results but provided cautious guidance.

Electric car maker Tesla is slumping by 4.8 percent in pre-market trading after reporting fourth quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates.

On the other hand, shares of American Airlines (AAL) are soaring in pre-market trading after the airline reported a narrower than expected fourth quarter loss on revenues that exceeded expectations.

Smaller rivals JetBlue (JBLU) and Southwest Airlines (LUV) are also likely to see initial strength after reporting narrower than expected quarterly losses.

Early trading may also be impacted by reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing a bigger than expected decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended January 23rd.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 847,000, a decrease of 67,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 914,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 875,000 from the 900,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Jobless claims declined for the second consecutive week after reaching a more than four-month high of 927,000 in the week ended January 9th.

The Commerce Department also released showing economic growth matched economist estimates in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The Commerce Department said real gross domestic product jumped by 4.0 percent in the fourth quarter after skyrocketing by 33.4 percent in the third quarter.

Despite the rebound in the second half of the year, GDP for 2020 contracted by 3.5 percent following the 2.2 percent growth seen in 2019.

Shortly after the start of trading, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its report on new home sales in the month of December.

New home sales are expected to jump by 2.9 percent to an annual rate of 865,000 in December after plunging by 11.0 percent to a rate of 841,000 in November.

The Conference Board is also due to release its report on leading economic indicators in the month of December. The leading economic index is expected to rise by 0.3 percent.

Stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, adding to the modest losses posted on Tuesday. The major averages all posted steep losses, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 pulling back further off Monday’s record closing highs.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but remained firmly negative. The Dow tumbled 633.87 points or 2.1 percent to 30,303.17, the Nasdaq plunged 355.47 points or 2.6 percent to 13,270.60 and the S&P 500 slumped 98.85 points or 2.6 percent to 3,750.77.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved notably lower during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slid by 1.5 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plummeted by 2.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has risen by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index is down by 0.5 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.9 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.36 to $53.21 a barrel after rising $0.24 to $52.85 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after falling $6 to $1,844.90 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are edging up $3.90 to $1,848.80 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 104.29 yen versus the 104.11 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.2121 compared to yesterday’s $1.2111.