BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Trading on Thursday may also be impacted by reaction to U.S. economic reports on durable goods orders and weekly jobless claims.
Investors are focusing on the major economic data to be published on Thursday, especially the Jobless Claims, International Trade in Data for June as well as Durable Goods Orders.Earnings reports are also under the scanner.
Asian shares finished broadly positive, while European shares are trading mostly higher.
Initial cues from the U.S. Futures point Wall Street to open broadly higher.
As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 80 points, the S&P 500 futures were up 3.00 and the Nasdaq 100 futures were falling 12.25 points.
U.S. stocks finished mixed on Wednesday. The Dow fell 79.22 points or 0.3 percent to 27,269.97, the Nasdaq jumped 70.10 points or 0.9 percent to 8,321.50 and the S&P 500 climbed 14.09 points or 0.5 percent to 3,019.56.
On the economic front, the Durable Goods Orders for December will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.5 percent, while it was down 1.3 percent in the previous month.
The Labor Department's Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The economists are looking for consensus of 219K while it was 216K in the previous week.
Census Bureau's International Trade in Goods data for June will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $72.5 billion, while it recorded deficit of $74.6 billion in May.
The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Natural Gas Report for the week will be published at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the change was up 62 bcf.
Seven year Treasury Note auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.
The Fed Balance Sheet for the week is expected at 4.30 pm ET. In the previous week, the level was at $3.808 trillion.
The Fed Money Supply for week is scheduled at 4.30 pm ET. The M2 weekly change was at $0.4 billion.
Asian stocks finished broadly up on Thursday. Chinese stocks rose. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index gained 14.08 points or 0.48 percent to 2,937.36 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.25 percent to 28,594.30.
Japanese stocks climbed on the day. The Nikkei average ended the session up 46.98 points or 0.22 percent at 21,756.55, while the broader Topix index closed 0.18 percent higher at 1,577.85.
Australian markets advanced on expectations for easier monetary policies by major central banks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 41.30 points or 0.61 percent to 6,818, just 10 points shy of its best ever close. The broader All Ordinaries index ended up 0.58 percent at 6,901.90.
European shares are trading broadly higher. CAC 40 of France is progressing 11.23 points or 0.20 percent. DAX of Germany is declining 24.33 points or 0.19 percent. FTSE 100 of England is adding 13.58 points or 0.18 percent. Swiss Market Index is up 19.61 points or 0.20 percent.
Euro Stoxx 50 that provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is up 0.16 percent.
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