MW: U.S. stock futures higher ahead of jobless claims
By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock market futures moved higher on Thursday in the wake of another big push by Wall Street as investors looked ahead to data that is expected to show weekly jobless claims falling back from the previous week’s surprisingly big spike.
Futures for the Dow industrials DJM3 +0.22% rose 30 points, or 0.2%, to 14,763, while those for the Standard & Poors’ 500 index SPM3 +0.07% rose 2.3 points to 1,585. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index NDM3 +0.04% inched up 0.25 point to 2,853.50.
Data on weekly jobless claims is due to get more attention than usual when it’s released at 8:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern by the Labor Department. Last week, claims jumped to a four-month high of 385,000, though economists suspected seasonal disruptions.
Economist polled by MarketWatch forecast claims to fall to 360,000 in the week ended April 6 assume those seasonal factors will fade away. If claims remain elevated though, the report would add to growing evidence that the labor market has softened.
At the same time, the government will release the import price index for March, which is expected to fall by 0.5% after rising an estimated 1.1% in February.
There are also two Federal Reserve speakers lined up--Philadelphia Fed’s Charles Plosser speaking from Hong Kong at 6 a.m. Eastern and James Bullard of the St. Louis Fed due to speak at 8:30 a.m. Both support reducing the pace of Fed bond purchases.
Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March meeting showed that several Fed officials believe the central bank should taper its bond purchases later in the year and stop it completely by year-end if the labor market improves. The data was released early due to the fact the Fed mistakenly sent those minutes out a day early to Hill staffers and officials from leading Wall Street firms.
“Much is being made of the leak of Fed minutes, which led to speculation that the Fed could end QE this year. That is a notion that is shaped by misinterpretation,” said Stephen Pope, managing partner at Spotlight Ideas, in emailed comments.
“What keeps being ignored is that the only voice that matters is that of Ben Bernanke. He is on record that he wants to see unemployment at 6.5% and inflation at 2.5%…we have a way to go yet and that, for me means soft money and accommodation is here to stay,” said Pope, who adds that he remains bullish on markets.
Wall Street rose for a third straight day on Wednesday, with both the Dow industrials DJIA +0.88% and the S&P 500 index SPX +1.22% marking their best sessions in six weeks. The S&P rose to an intraday record of 1,589.07 and closed at a record 1,587.73, up 19.12 points, or 1.2%.
A smattering of corporate news is expected on Thursday including same-store sales from Costco Wholesale Corp. COST -0.04% and others, while earnings from Pier 1 Imports Inc. PIR +2.19% and Rite Aid Corp. RAD +0.56% are also on tap.
In other markets, European stocks turned higher, in step with U.S. stock futures, while Asia stocks saw a broad rally led by Japan, as markets have been pricing in aggressive easing by the Bank of Japan. Read: Kuroda says BOJ inflation target is 'flexible'.
Gold and oil were also marginally lower, while the dollar USDJPY -0.17% remained under that key 100 yen mark.
Barbara Kollmeyer is an editor for MarketWatch in Madrid. Follow her on Twitter @MWBarbaraKollmeyer.
