Wall Street Sees Red

Thursday’s trading might be highly influenced by the Fed announcement and the weekly jobless claims.

Asian shares finished mostly higher and European shares are mostly up.

The initial trend on the U.S. Futures Index suggests that Wall Street might open in negative.

As of 8.05 am ET, the Dow futures were down 33.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 29.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 221.75 points.

The major averages all finished Wednesday in positive territory, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a significant rebound after moving sharply lower in early trading. The Nasdaq ended the day up 53.64 points or 0.4 percent to 13,525.20. The Dow also advanced 189.42 points or 0.6 percent to 33,015.37 and the S&P 500 rose 11.41 points or 0.3 percent to 3,974.12.

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 700K, while it was up 712K in the prior week.

Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for March will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 24.0, while it was 23.1 in the previous month.

The Conference Board’s Leading Indicators for February is scheduled at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for increase of 0.3 percent, while it was up 0.5 percent in the prior month.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Natural Gas Report for the week is expected at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was down 52 bcf.

Two-year floating rate note or FRN announcement, two-year Treasury Note auction, five-year and seven-year treasury note auction will be held at 11.00 am ET.

Ten-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities or TIPS will be held at 1.00 pm ET.
The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be revealed at 4.30 pm ET.

Asian stocks ended mostly higher on Thursday. Chinese shares ended modestly higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index gained 17.52 points, or 0.51 percent, to 3,463.07 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rallied 371.60 points, or 1.28 percent, to 29,405.72.

Japanese shares rose sharply. The Nikkei average climbed 302.42 points, or 1.01 percent, to 30,216.75, while the broader Topix index closed 1.23 percent higher at 2,008.51.

Australian stocks fell notably. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 49.30 points, or 0.73 percent, to 6,745.90. The broader All Ordinaries index ended down 44.40 points, or 0.63 percent, at 7,003.60.

European shares are trading mostly higher. Among the major indexes in the region, the German DAX is gaining 124.19 points or 0.85 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is declining 8.94 points or 0.14 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is adding 2.24 points or 0.02 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is up 0.32 percent.