BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Jobless Claims, Existing home sales as well as Leading Indicators are scheduled on Thursday. Early signs from U.S. Futures Index clearly suggest a slightly lower open for Wall Street. Asian shares finished mixed, while European shares are trading higher.
The market might continue to react to the Fed signals on interest rates outlook and cut in interest rates. The political situation in the Middle-east is closely monitored by investors. Iran has warned that it go out for war to protect its territory in response to U.S. and Saudi reactions to drone attack on Saudi oil fields.
As of 7.50 am ET, the Dow futures were losing 46 points, the S&P 500 futures were down 4.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were falling 18.25 points.
U.S. major stocks closed mostly higher on Wednesday. The Nasdaq edged down 8.62 points or 0.1 percent to 8,177.39, the Dow inched up 36.28 points or 0.1 percent to 27,147.08 and the S&P 500 crept up 1.03 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 3,006.73.
On the economic front, the Labor Department's Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The economists are looking for consensus of 215K while it was 204K in the previous week.
Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey report for September will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 11.0, up from 16.8 in the previous month.
The Commerce Department's Current Account for the second quarter will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $125.8 billion, compared to deficit of $130.4 billion in the prior quarter.
The National Association of Realtors' Existing Home Sales Data for August will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for 5.380 million, lower than 5.420 million in July, 2019.
The Conference Board's Leading Indicators for August will be issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is no change from the previous month, while it climbed 0.5 percent in the previous month.
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 a growth of 78 bcf.
EIA's Petroleum Status Report for the week will be revealed at 11.00 am ET. In the previous week, the crude oil inventories were up 3.6 million barrels and Gasoline were up 0.4 million barrels.
Two -year FRN, two, five and seven year Treasury Note auction will be held at 11.00 am ET. The 10-year Treasury inflation-indexed securities or TIPS 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 $3.770 trillion.
The Fed Money Supply for week is scheduled at 4.30 pm ET. The M2 weekly change was $40.6 billion.
Asian stocks ended on a mixed note Thursday. Chinese shares ended on a positive note. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index gained 13.62 points, or 0.46 percent, to finish at 2,999.28 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended down as much as 1.07 percent at 26,468.95.
Japanese shares advanced as the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged. The Nikkei average rose 83.74 points, or 0.38 percent, to 22,044.45 while the broader Topix index ended 0.56 percent higher at 1,615.66.
Australian markets finished higher. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index inched up 35.90 points, or 0.54 percent, to 6,717.50 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 34 points, or 0.50 percent, at 6,825.20.
European shares are trading broadly higher. CAC 40 of France is gaining 28.71 points or 0.51 percent. DAX of Germany is progressing 31.21 points or 0.25 percent. FTSE 100 of England is adding 54.12 points or 0.74 percent. Swiss Market Index is up 0.99 points or 0.01 percent.
Euro Stoxx 50 that provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is up 0.48 percent.
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