U.S. Stocks May Lack Direction Ahead Of Monthly Jobs Report

Stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Thursday, extending the lackluster performance seen over the course of the previous session. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by less than a tenth of a percent.

Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Economists currently expect employment to increase by 130,000 jobs in May after jumping by 177,000 jobs in April, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.2 percent.

The data could have a significant impact on the outlook for the economy following yesterday’s weaker than expected reports on private sector employment and service sector activity.

With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased in the week ended May 31st.

The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 247,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 239,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 235,000 from the 240,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a separate report showing a substantial decrease in the size of the U.S. trade deficit in the month of April.

The Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $61.6 billion in April from a revised $138.3 billion in March.

Economists had expected the trade deficit to shrink to $94.0 billion from the $140.5 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The significantly smaller trade deficit came as the value of imports plummeted by 16.3 percent to $351.0 billion, while the value of exports jumped by 3.0 percent to $289.4 billion.

After moving mostly higher to start the week, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the Dow dipped 91.90 points or 0.2 percent to 42,427.74, the S&P 500 inched up 0.44 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,970.81 and the Nasdaq rose 61.53 points or 0.3 percent to 19,460.49.

Despite the choppy trading, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 once again reached their best closing levels in well over three months.

In overseas stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index is up by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.3 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are rising $0.27 to $63.12 a barrel after falling $0.56 to $62.85 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after climbing $22.10 to $3,399.20 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are advancing $18.50 to $3,417.70 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 143.06 yen versus the 142.77 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1432 compared to yesterday’s $1.1417.

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