U.S. stock-index futures advanced early Thursday as investors cheered the latest weekly report on the number of Americans filing for jobless benefits.
How are stock-index futures
- S&P 500 futures ES00, +0.24% traded 12 points, or 0.3%, higher at 4,006.
- Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YM00, +0.26% gained 90 points, or 0.3%, to 32,903.
- Nasdaq 100 futures NQ00, +0.24% gained 30 points, or 0.3%, to 12,266.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.18% fell 58 points, or 0.18%, to 32798, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.14% increased 6 points, or 0.14%, to 3992, and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.40% gained 46 points, or 0.4%, to 11576. The S&P 500 is on track to book its fourth weekly loss in five.
What’s driving markets
U.S. stocks shrugged off concerns about further interest-rate rises from the Federal Reserve early Thursday as the latest weekly jobless claims data showed an unexpectedly large uptick in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits ahead of the February employment report due Friday.
The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits in early March jumped to a 10-week high of 211,000 or the highest level since Christmas. That’s higher than the 195,000 new applicants that economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had anticipated.
Economists said the data suggest that the labor market might be starting to slow, which is seen as a necessary prerequisite for driving inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target.
“The labor market might just be on the cusp of an inflection point,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer of Bleakley Financial Group, in emailed commentary.
Investors are now looking ahead to Friday’s closely watched February jobs report from the Department of Labor. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expect 225,000 jobs were created last month after 517,000 new jobs were created in January, a number that was much higher than economists had anticipated.
Treasury yields ticked lower, but short-term yields remained near 15-year highs. The yield on the 2-year note TMUBMUSD02Y, 4.981% declined by 6.3 basis points to 4.998%.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues have made it clear that they still have a long way to go to drive inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target, although the Fed chairman said no decision has been made on the size of the rate hike senior Fed officials are planning for their upcoming March meeting.
Investors will also hear Friday from Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr, who is due to speak about crypto, just a day after Silvergate Capital SI, -5.76% said it would voluntarily liquidate its bank.
Companies in focus
- Uber Technologies Inc. UBER, -0.38% shares rose 2% in premarket after Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that the ride-hailing food and package delivery company was considering a spinoff of its struggling Uber Freight business. An Uber spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.
- Silvergate Capital Corp. SI, -5.76% shares are down 45% in premarket trade after the La Jolla. Calif-based lender said it would wind down operations and liquidate its crypto-friendly lender Silvergate Bank. Silvergate shares could hit a record low on Thursday if those losses hold through the regular trading session.
- Credit Suisse Group AG’s U.S-listed shares CS, +0.35% fell 4% in premarket trade after the Swiss bank said publication of its annual report for 2022 would be delayed due to a late call from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which questioned its 2019 and 2020 cash-flow statements.
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