Stock futures trade higher ahead of jobless claims, productivity
The economic calendar includes productivity and labor costs, the trade balance and factory orders.
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U.S. equity futures were trading higher ahead of a busy day of economic data.
The major futures indexes suggested a gain of 0.2% when the Thursday trading session begins on Wall Street.
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Traders will get the second of this week's labor-related reports in the form of weekly jobless claims.
The Labor Department is out with its tally of new claims for unemployment benefits for last week. Expectations are for 345,000, a decline from the prior week’s total of 353,000. That would be the lowest since March 14, 2020. Continuing claims, which track the total number of unemployed workers collecting benefits, are anticipated to drop by 87,000 to a pandemic low of 2.775 million.
PRIVATE PAYROLLS RISE BY 374,000 IN AUGUST, SHARPLY MISSING ESTIMATE
On Wednesday, private-sector hiring rose much less than expected last month as a resurgence in new COVID-19 infections stunted job gains. The U.S. economy added 374,000 private-sector jobs in August, according to the ADP National Employment Report. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had expected the addition of 613,000 jobs.
On Friday, the August nonfarm payrolls report is expected to say the U.S. economy added 750,000 jobs last month, according to economists surveyed by Refinitiv. The economy gained 943,000 jobs in July.
Other reports being released on Thursday include second-quarter productivity and labor costs, the U.S. trade balance for July and factory orders.
In Europe, London's FTSE is off 0.1%, Germany's DAX was flat and France's CAC are higher by 0.1%.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.3%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.2% and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8%.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 41794.6 | -257.59 | -0.61% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5712.69 | -16.11 | -0.28% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 18179.984429 | -59.93 | -0.33% |
On Wall Street on Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.41 points to 4,524.09. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 35,312.53. The Nasdaq climbed 0.3% to a record 15,309.38.
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In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude added 29 cents to $68.88 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 9 cents on Wednesday to $68.59. Brent crude, the price basis for international oils, added 34 cent to $71.93 a barrel. It fell 4 cents the previous session to $71.59 a barrel.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.