U.S. index futures rose in pre-market trading on Thursday, with tech stocks boosted by strong earnings and a positive forecast from Nvidia.
At 6:42 AM, Dow Jones (DOWI:DJI) futures were up 36 points, or 0.09%. S&P 500 futures advanced 0.53%, and Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.91%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was at 4.441%.
In the commodities market, West Texas Intermediate crude for July rose 0.90%, to $78.27 per barrel. Brent crude for July was up 0.89%, near $82.65 per barrel. Iron ore traded on the Dalian exchange fell 1.09%, to $125.12 per metric ton.
On Thursday’s economic agenda, the Chicago Fed will release the national activity index for April at 8:30 AM. At the same time, the Labor Department will publish unemployment insurance claims data for the week. At 9:45 AM, S&P Global will release the preliminary readings of the purchasing managers’ indexes, covering both the manufacturing and services sectors for May. Finally, at 10:00 AM, the Commerce Department will reveal April’s new home sales figures, providing insights into the real estate market, a key indicator of economic growth.
European markets are registering gains today, driven by investor reactions to recent inflation in the UK and new economic data from the Eurozone. Meanwhile, markets are also digesting the impact of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s unexpected announcement of a general election on July 4, a decision that ends months of speculation about the date of the important national vote. Based on current opinion polls, the ruling Conservative Party is expected to be overtaken by the opposition Labour Party.
Asian markets closed with mixed performances. The Shanghai Index in China recorded a significant drop of 1.33%, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong saw an even larger decline, falling 1.70%. On the other hand, Japan’s Nikkei showed a positive performance, rising 1.26%. In South Korea, the Kospi index showed a slight decrease of 0.06%, and in Australia, the ASX 200 also closed down, with a reduction of 0.46%.
During Wednesday’s session, the U.S. stock market exhibited volatility following the release of the minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting. The Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq closed down 0.5%, 0.3%, and 18%, respectively. The minutes suggest that the Fed might keep interest rates high for longer than expected, due to the need for greater confidence in slowing inflation. This caused surprise and cautious reactions among investors, who were also awaiting the results from Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) after the close, which exceeded forecasts.
Scheduled to report quarterly earnings before the market opens are BJ’s (NYSE:BJ), Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL), Polestar (NASDAQ:PSNY), TD Bank (NYSE:TD), Endava (NYSE:DAVA), Maxeon (NASDAQ:MAXN), Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES), Titan Machinery (NASDAQ:TITN), among others.
After the close, investors await figures from Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU), Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY), Deckers Brands (NYSE:DECK), Ross (NASDAQ:ROST), SilverCorp Metals (AMEX:SVM), Stepstone (NASDAQ:STEP), Cavco (NASDAQ:CVCO), Woodmark (NASDAQ:AMWD), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE:LGF.A), and more.