21st Apr 2016 12:57
WASHINGTON (Alliance News) - Stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Thursday after trending higher in recent sessions. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the Dow futures down by just 9 points.
Traders may take breather following recent strength in the markets, leading to a relatively lackluster performance on Wall Street.
The recent gains have lifted the Dow to its highest levels since last July, while the S&P 500 has reached a nearly five-month closing high.
Traders are also keeping an eye on developments in Europe, where the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged as expected.
In his subsequent press conference, ECB President Mario Draghi predicted rates would remain at low levels for an extended period.
On the US economic front, the Labor Department recently released a report showing that initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level in over forty years in the week ended April 16th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims edged down to 247,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 253,000. Economists had expected claims to rise to 265,000.
With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting 233,000 in November of 1973.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a separate report showing an unexpected contraction in regional manufacturing activity in April.
The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current activity fell to a negative 1.6 in April from a positive 12.4 in March. A negative reading indicates a contraction in regional manufacturing activity.
Economists had expected the index to show a more modest decrease to a positive 9.0, which would have still indicated growth.
Traders are also digesting the latest batch of earnings news, with General Motors (GM), Travelers (TRV) and Verizon (VZ) among the companies releasing their results this morning.
After initially turning in a lackluster performance, stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading session on Wednesday. The major averages showed a strong move to the upside in mid-day trading but pulled back well off their highs going into the close.
Despite the late-day pullback, the major averages ended the day in positive territory. The Dow edged up 42.67 points or 0.2% to 18,096.27, the Nasdaq rose 7.80 points or 0.2% to 4,948.13 and the S&P 500 inched up 1.60 points or 0.1% to 2,102.40.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged up by 2.7%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.8%.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the German DAX Index is up y 0.1%, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.2% and the UK's FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.6%.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures for June delivery are inching up USD0.01 to USD44.19 a barrel in their first day of trading as the front month contract. Gold futures are currently trading at USD1,271.80 an ounce, up USD17.40 from the previous session's close of USD1,254.40 an ounce. On Wednesday, gold crept up USD0.10. On the currency front, the US dollar is trading at 109.71 yen compared to the 109.84 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at USD1.1380 compared to yesterday's USD1.1297.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX