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Investors’ major focus on Thursday will be on earnings reports and are likely to keep an eye on first quarter GDP, weekly jobless claims and pending home sales data. <\/p>\n
Early cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower.<\/p>\n
Asian shares finished mixed, while European shares are trading broadly up.<\/p>\n
As of 8.05 am ET, the Dow futures were sliding 200.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 33.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 184.75 points.<\/p>\n
The U.S. major averages eventually ended Wednesday narrowly mixed. The Dow edged down 42.77 points or 0.1 percent to 38,460.92, the S&P 500 crept up 1.08 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,071.63 and the Nasdaq inched up 16.11 points or 0.1 percent to 15,712.75.<\/p>\n
On the economic front, the Joblesss Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 215K, while it was up 212K in the prior week.<\/p>\n
The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Natural Gas Report for the week is scheduled at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was up 50 bcf. <\/p>\n
The Pending Home Sales Index for March will be released at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for 1.0 percent, while it was up 1.6 percent. <\/p>\n
Asian stocks fell on Thursday. Chinese stocks edged up slightly, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.3 percent to 3,052.90
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Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.5 percent to 17,284.54.<\/p>\n
The Australian and New Zealand markets<\/span> were closed for the day.<\/p>\n Japanese markets tumbled. The Nikkei 225 Index plunged 2.2 percent to 37,628.48 after a three-day rally. The broader Topix Index dropped 1.7 percent to 2,663.53. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Business News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n