The major U.S. index futures on the Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq are currently pointing to a lower open on Thursday, with stocks likely to move to the downside following the mixed performance seen in the previous session.
Traders may look to cash in on the recent strength in the markets, which saw the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reach their best closing levels in well over two months on Wednesday.
Stocks have recently benefitted from easing trade concerns after the U.S. reached agreements with the U.K. and China to reduce tariffs.
Early trading may be impacted by reaction to an avalanche of U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing producer prices unexpectedly decrease in the month of April.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand fell by 0.5 percent in April following a revised unchanged reading in March.
Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.4 percent decline originally reported for the previous month.
The report also said the annual rate of producer price growth slowed to 2.4 percent in April from a revised 3.4 percent in March.
The Labor Department also released a separate report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits came in unchanged in the week ended May 10th
The report said initial jobless claims came in at 229,000 last week, unchanged from the previous week’s revised level.
Economists had expected jobless claims to tick up to 229,000 from the 228,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Another report released by the Commerce Department showed a slight increase by U.S. retail sales in the month of April.
The Commerce Department said retail sales crept up by 0.1 percent in April after surging by an upwardly revised 1.7 percent in March.
Economists had expected retail sales to inch up by 0.1 percent compared to the 1.4 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.
Excluding sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales still edged up by 0.1 percent in April after climbing by 0.8 percent in March. Ex-auto sales were expected to rise by 0.3 percent.
After moving to the upside at the start of trading on Wednesday, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the session. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before finishing mixed.
The Dow slipped 89.37 points or 0.2 percent to finish at 42,051.06, while the Nasdaq climbed 136.72 points or 0.7 percent to close at 19,146.81 and the S&P 500 rose 6.03 points or 0.1 percent to end at 5,892.58.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a step back to assess the recent rally by the markets, which has seen the S&P 500 rebound strongly from its early April lows to turn positive for 2025.
While trade deals between the U.S. and China and the U.K. have helped ease concerns about President Donald Trump’s trade policies, uncertainty about the eventual outcome continues to hang over the markets.
Traders may also have been reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of a slew of U.S. economic data on Thursday.
While most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day, pharmaceutical stocks saw substantial weakness, with the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index plummeting by 3.1 percent.
Gold stocks also moved sharply lower along with the price of the precious metal, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.4 percent.
Dow Jones, S&P, Nasdaq, Futures Pointing To Initial Weakness On Wall Street
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