Dow Futures Up 160 Pts; Jobless Claims in Focus

U.S. stocks are seen posting modest gains later Thursday, with investors focusing their attention on reports on initial jobless claims and private sector hiring ahead of Friday’s government nonfarm payrolls report for May.

At 6:50 AM ET (1050 GMT), the Dow futures contract was up 162 points, or 0.5%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.4% while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 81 points, or 0.6%.

The gains came after Wall Street's three major indexes closed lower on Wednesday amid concerns that the Federal Reserve will stick to its aggressive rate hike cycle aimed at curbing soaring inflation.

The Dow ended down 176.89 points, or 0.5%, on Wednesday. The S&P 500 was off around 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.7%.

The Labor Department is to publish its weekly report on initial jobless claims at 8:30 AM ET. ADP will release data on private sector hiring at 8:15 AM ET.

The employment data is coming ahead of Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report for May with economists expecting the economy to have added 325,000 jobs last month. While still solid, it would represent the slowest jobs growth in around a year with the labor market transitioning to more moderate growth as the effects of the pandemic ebb.

Data on Wednesday showed that U.S. job openings fell in April, but remained at high levels, suggesting that wages would continue to rise, contributing to already high inflation.

Investors are closely watching economic data for clues as to what it might mean for interest rates and Friday’s employment report could set the tone for markets this month after a tumultuous month of May.

In corporate news, shares in online pet product retailer Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) surged around 17% ahead of the open after its quarterly earnings results late Wednesday came in ahead of expectations.

Shares in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) were lower after it reported slight misses in both earnings and revenue, after the bell on Wednesday.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB) stock was also in focus after Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg announced in a Facebook post late Wednesday that she is leaving the company after 14 years.

The announcement initially sent Meta's shares down 4%, but the stock erased the losses in after-hours trade.

Earnings from big tech names Crowdstrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) and Asana (NYSE:ASAN) are due after the close, along with results from retailers Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU), Designer Brands (NYSE:DBI) and RH (NYSE:RH).

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 Dow Futures Fall 120 Pts; Earnings in Focus as Week Closes

U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally lower Friday, continuing the previous session’s selloff on fears of sharp monetary policy tightening while quarterly corporate earnings continue to emerge.

At 7 AM ET (1100 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 120 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 Futures traded 14 points, or 0.3%, lower and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 36 points, or 0.3%.

The three main Wall Street indices closed substantially lower Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell offered up his most aggressive approach to taming inflation to date, largely cementing a 50-basis-point rate hike at the central bank’s May meeting.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed more than 300 points, or 1.1%, lower, the broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite suffered the most, dropping 2.1%.

Looking at the week as a whole, the Dow is on course to register a gain of 1%, which would break a three-week losing streak, the S&P 500 is largely flat, and the Nasdaq Composite is down 1.3%, which would be its third consecutive losing week.

Away from future Fed moves, investors are also focusing on the new earnings season. So far, with a few notable exceptions, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) springs to mind, big companies have been relatively positive on the outlook for the current quarter and the remainder of the year.

More results are due Friday, with the focus on the likes of wireless carrier Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), credit card company American Express (NYSE:AXP) and manufacturing conglomerate Honeywell (NASDAQ:HON).

After the close Thursday, social media platform Snap (NYSE:SNAP) warned that the high inflation could hit revenue growth even as it forecast second-quarter daily active users at between 343 million and 345 million, above Wall Street estimates of 340 million.

Clothes retailer Gap (NYSE:GPS) cut its forecast for quarterly sales, citing execution challenges at its Old Navy brand, adding the head of this brand, Nancy Green, was leaving the company.

The economic data slate centers around the release of business activity data for April, with the manufacturing PMI seen falling back slightly from the previous month’s 58.8, and the Markit composite PMI dropping from March’s 57.7.

The equivalent data saw a two-speed Eurozone, with the bloc's dominant services sector seeing a sharp increase in activity as consumers shrugged off soaring prices, while manufacturers struggled on the back of supply chain disruptions.

Oil prices weakened Friday, weighed by prospects of interest rate hikes and slowing global growth, while China, the world’s largest crude importer, continued to struggle with a COVID-19 outbreak.

The week ends with the release of U.S. oil rig numbers from Baker Hughes and CFTC speculative positioning data. 

By 7 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1.5% lower at $102.21 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 1.4% to $106.82. Both benchmarks are on course for weekly losses of over 4%.

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