US pre-open: Futures edge lower ahead of raft of economic data
US stock futures pointed to a soft open on Thursday, as investors awaited a raft of economic data.
Best Buy Co. Inc.
$75.12
10:59 22/04/24
Dow Jones I.A.
38,239.98
04:30 15/10/20
Gap Inc.
$20.75
10:59 22/04/24
Hewlett-Packard Co.
$27.70
11:04 22/04/24
Nasdaq 100
17,210.88
12:15 22/04/24
Ross Stores Inc.
$133.77
13:00 22/04/24
Salesforce.Com Inc.
$273.81
11:05 22/04/24
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was expected to open down 30 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were set to open four and 14 points lower respectively.
US stocks were little changed on Wednesday as minutes from the Federal Reserve provided few surprises, indicating that a rate hike in June is 'unlikely'.
Only a few officials believed that the economy would demonstrate sufficient resilience to justify a move in six weeks time.
“There wasn’t much to take from the minutes this month, they were very much consistent with the statement that was released following the decision and the message from the other meetings,” said Oanda’s senior market analyst Craig Erlam.
“They also offer an outdated view on the economy as they don’t take into account the April data, which didn’t show the kind of bounce that would be expected if the first quarter slowdown was in fact ‘transitory’.”
Raft of data ahead
On Thursday, investors will have plenty of economic data to sink their teeth into, starting with weekly jobless claims and the Chicago Fed national activity index at 13:30 BST.
Analysts expected the number of Americans to have filed for unemployment last week to have risen from 264,000 to 269,000.
The Markit flash manufacturing for May is due out at 14:45 BST, followed by existing home sales for April, the Philadelphia Fed sentiment survey for May and leading indicators for April at 15:00 BST.
Federal Reserve vice chairman Stanley Fisher and San Francisco Fed president John Williams, both voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee, will speak at 18:30 BST and 22:00 BST respectively.
Mixed earnings on Wall Street
In company news, electronics retailer Best Buy surged 9.53% in pre-market trading after reporting better-than-expected first quarter results earlier on Thursday.
Cloud-computing group Salesforce.com jumped 6.19% ahead of the bell after its quarterly earnings beat analysts’ expectations late on Wednesday, while storage data company NetApp plunged 10.8% after its earnings fell short of Wall Street’s estimates.
Clothing retailer Gap, software company Intuit, computer giant Hewlett-Packard and retailer Ross Stores will report after the close.
Oil prices moved north, with both West Texas Intermediate and Brent climbing 1.3% to $59.77 a barrel and $65.93 a barrel respectively.
The dollar lost 0.92% against the pound, dropping 0.47% against the euro and 0.13% against the yen, while gold futures edged 0.05% higher to $1,209.30.