TH: Stock Futures Slip; Jobless Claims Fall to Lowest Since July
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were slightly lower on Thursday as investors prepared for the kickoff of earnings season.
S&P 500 futures were down 0.35%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 0.35%, and Nasdaq futures fell 0.37%.
Jobless claims in the U.S. fell to their lowest level since mid-July, according to the Labor Department. The number of new claims for unemployment benefits fell 13,000 to 263,000 in the week ended Oct. 3. The less-volatile four-week claims average fell 3,000 to 267,500.
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Alcoa (AA - Get Report) unofficially kicks off earnings season on Thursday with third-quarter results after the closing bell. Expectations for corporate earnings are already low. Third-quarter earnings are expected to decline 4.2% from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters. Similar issues that plagued the second quarter such as a stronger U.S. dollar and lower energy prices are expected to carry over into this past quarter.
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"We've seen companies set the bar rather low again for earnings season which has been typical," Chris Gaffney, president of EverBank World Markets, told TheStreet. "What we are looking for is to see what impact the stronger dollar has on U.S. companies. We are expecting and have seen some warnings from some of the multinationals that this strong dollar is hurting sales."
U.S. stocks ended Wednesday modestly higher after energy and basic materials stocks jumped despite a drop in crude oil prices. Markets had moved erratically, however, in line with crude oil which rallied before slumping on an increase in domestic inventories.
The Federal Reserve will release minutes from the September meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. The central bank decided during the meeting to keep rates at crises levels, opting not to tighten monetary policy for the first time in a decade. However, reaction could be limited as investors have likely already priced in the likelihood of the first rate hike in 2016 after a weak jobs report for September.
Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake are reportedly in advanced talks to buy hardware company EMC (EMC - Get Report) , according to The Wall Street Journal. The deal would be one of the biggest tech hardware industry takeovers in history. EMC shares were up 7% in premarket trading.
Deutsche Bank (DB - Get Report) shares were on watch after the bank said it would take a charge of 5.8 billion euros in the third quarter, tied to higher regulatory requirements in its corporate banking unit. The bank guided for a quarterly loss between 6 billion and 6.2 billion euros.
Lumber Liquidators (LL - Get Report) jumped in premarket trading on news it will pay $10 million to settle federal charges. The company will plead guilty to five violations of environmental law which alleged it had knowingly sourced illegal wood products. However, management still has to deal with a separate investigation into the sale of harmful flooring products.
