Wall Street Might Open Lower

The weekly Jobless Claims and Existing Home Sales are the major economic announcements on Thursday.

Asian shares finished lower, while European shares are trading in negative territory.

In the Asian trading session, the dollar stayed weak, while gold scaled a two-week high. Oil prices extended losses for a third straight session.

As of 8.10 am ET, the Dow futures were losing 209.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were down 24.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 83.00 points.

The U.S. major averages ended Wednesday sharply lower. The Dow plunged 816.80 points or 1.9 percent to 41,860.44, the S&P 500 slumped 95.85 points or 1.6 percent to 5,844.61 and the Nasdaq tumbled 270.07 points or 1.4 percent to 18,872.64.

On the economic front, the Jobless Claims for the week is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 230K, while it was up 229K in the prior week.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for April will be released at 8.30 am ET. In the prior month, the Index was down 0.03.

The PMI Composite Flash for May will be issued at 9.45 am ET. In April, the composite Index was 51.2.

The Existing Home Sales for April will be revealed at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 4.130 million, while it March the annual rate was 4.02 million.

Ten-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities or TIPS will be released at 1.00 pm ET.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week is expected at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the level was up $6.713 trillion.

New York Fed President John Williams will give keynote before Monetary Policy Implementation Workshop, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at 2.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks followed Wall Street lower on Thursday.

China’s Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.22 percent to 3,380.19 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.19 percent to 23,544.31.

Japanese markets fell notably. The Nikkei average fell 0.84 percent to 36,985.87. The broader Topix index settled 0.58 percent lower at 2,717.09.

Australian markets ended lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.45 percent to 8,348.70 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed down 0.47 percent at 8,571.40.

European shares are trading lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is down 102.17 points or 1.29 percent. The German DAX is losing 255.94 points or 1.06 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is sliding 88.34 points or 1.01 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is down 159.07 points or 1.28 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 1.15 percent.

Business News