Wall Street Set To Open Moderately Positively

Weekly jobless claims, labor productivity, and factory orders might be getting much attention on Thursday.

Earnings reports of Allstate (ALL), eBay (EBAY), Grubhub (GRUB), PayPal (PYPL), MetLife (MET), and Qualcomm (QCOM) are scheduled after the close of today’s trading.

Investors are much concerned about the spread of the pandemic. The U.K. strain, more deadly than the original COVID-19 strain, is spreading around the world, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects death of 530,000 in the U.S. along by the end of February.

Early trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open moderately positive.

As of 7.25 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 6.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were progressing 2.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were gaining 38.50 points.

The U.S. major averages finished Wednesday’s session on opposite sides of the unchanged line. While the Nasdaq edged down 2.23 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 13,610.54, the Dow inched up 36.12 points or 0.1 percent to 30,723.60 and the S&P 500 crept up 3.86 points or 0.1 percent to 3,830.17.

On the economic front, the Labor Department’s Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 835K, while European shares are at 847K in the prior week.

The Labor Department’s Productivity and Costs for the fourth quarter will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a decline of 2.8 percent, while it was up 4.6 percent in the prior quarter.

The Commerce Department’s Factory Orders for December will be revealed at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for growth of 0.7 percent, while it was up 1.0 percent in the previous month.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Natural Gas Report for the week is scheduled at 10.30 am ET. In the previous week, the gas stock was down 128 bcf.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be issued at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the prior level was up $7.405 trillion.

The Fed Money Supply for the week will be released at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the M2 weekly change was $10.0 billion.

Asian stocks fell on Thursday. Chinese shares drifted lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index slid 15.45 points, or 0.44 percent, to 3,501.86, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended down 193.96 points, or 0.66 percent, at 29,113.50.

Japanese shares ended lower to snap a three-day winning streak. The Nikkei average fell 304.55 points, or 1.06 percent, to 28,341.95, while the broader Topix index closed 0.32 percent lower at 1,865.12.

Australian markets fell, dragged down by gold miners and healthcare companies. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 59.10 points, or 0.87 percent, to 6.765.50, snapping a three-day winning streak. The broader All Ordinaries index ended down 53 points, or 0.75 percent, at 7,037.90.

European shares are trading mostly higher. Among the major indexes in the region, the German DAX is adding 44.42 points or 0.32 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is down 23.57 points or 0.36 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is adding 68.27 points or 0.64 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is up 0.15 percent.

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