Futures Suggests Wall Street To Open Moderately Higher

Earnings reports as well as, economic announcements, such as weekly jobless claims and consumer price inflation, will be the focus on Thursday.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open moderately up.

In the Asian trading session, gold prices surged above $3,300 per ounce. The dollar extended its bullish run, and oil prices were up.

Russia is continuing strike on Ukraine, and investors are keenly observing the geopolitical developments.

As of 8.15 am ET, the Dow futures were up 98.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 57.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 310.75 points.

The major U.S. averages finished mostly lower on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 31.38 points or 0.2 percent to 21,129.67, the S&P 500 edged down 7.96 points or 0.1 percent to 6,362.90 and the Dow fell 171.71 points or 0.4 percent to 44,461.28.

On the economic front, the Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 225K, while it was up 217K in the prior week.

The Personal Income and Outlays for June will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is up 0.2 percent, while it was down 0.4 percent in May.

The Employment Cost Index for the second quarter will be revealed at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is up 0.8 percent, while it was up 0.9 percent in the prior quarter.

The Chicago PMI for July will be scheduled at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is 42.0, while it was up 40.4 in the prior month.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Natural Gas report for the week will be released at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was up 23 bcf.

The Agriculture Department’s Farm Prices for June will be issued at 3.00 pm ET. In the prior month, the prices were up 1.7 percent.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week is scheduled at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the level was up $6.658 trillion.

Asian stocks ended mostly lower on Thursday. China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.2 percent to 3,573.21. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.6 percent to 24,773.33.

Japanese markets rallied. The Nikkei 225 Index jumped 1.0 percent to 41,069.82, while the broader Topix Index settled 0.8 percent higher at 2,943.07.

Australian markets ended slightly lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped 0.2 percent to 8,742.80. The broader All Ordinaries Index ended 0.2 percent lower at 8,999.

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