By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Thursday, rebounding from Wednesday’s dip as investors digest comments from Federal Reserve officials ahead of a number of economic data releases.
At 7:05 AM ET (1205 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 175 points, or 0.5%, S&P 500 Futures traded 20 points, or 0.5%, higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 80 points, or 0.6%.
The main equity indices closed largely lower Wednesday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.2%, the broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed, climbing 0.1% to another record high.
Yet, despite these losses, the equity averages have pushed higher this week, with comments from Fed chief Jerome Powell earlier in the week downplaying concerns about rising consumer prices helping to soothe investors after last week’s hawkish central bank meeting.
Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) analysts expect the global economy to grow by 5.9% this year, with the U.S. expanding by an even higher 6.9%, led by vaccine rollouts, fiscal stimulus and a broadening services recovery.
“We are looking for equities to be the asset class that is going to outperform over the next six months to a year,” said Credit Suisse analyst Ray Farris, on CNBC. “As long as earnings continue to trend higher, history suggests that equities will grind their way up.
There are more Fed speakers due to explain their thinking later Thursday, including John Williams, the president of the Federal Bank of New York, who stated Monday that it was too early for the central bank to begin reining in its asset purchases..
The earnings slate includes results from the likes of Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI), FedEx (NYSE:FDX) and Nike (NYSE:NKE), while the banking sector will also be in the spotlight ahead of the release of the latest Fed stress tests.
The highlight of the economic data releases will be the weekly initial jobless claims release, seen falling to 380,000 for the week ending June 19, dropping again after the surprise rise to 412,000 for the week before.
Additionally, the final release of the first quarter GDP is expected to confirm that the U.S. economy grew by 6.4% annualized in the first three months of the year, while durable goods orders should climb 2.8% in May, rebounding after a 1.3% fall the previous month.
Crude oil prices edged lower Thursday, handing back some of the recent strong gains after U.S. crude stockpiles fell for the fifth consecutive week, the longest run since January 2021.
By 7:05 AM ET, U.S. crude was down 0.3% at $72.84 a barrel, after climbing late Wednesday as high as $74.25 per barrel, a peak not seen since Oct. 18, while Brent was down 0.3% at $74.94, just off Wednesday’s $76 high, also a 2018 peak.
The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday recorded a fall of 7.6 million barrels for the week ended June 18, indicative of a tightening market.