By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - Dow futures were little changed on Thursday night after major benchmark indices snapped two sessions of consecutive losses as market participants priced in further economic sanctions on Russia and the likelihood of tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, while United States 10-Year yields surged to fresh 3-year highs of 2.655%.
By 6:40pm ET (10:40pm GMT) Dow Jones Futures traded flat, or 0.01%. S&P 500 Futures added just 0.02% and Nasdaq 100 Futures were up 0.07%
Meantime, fresh jobless claims data showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 5K to 166K, falling to levels not seen since 1968 and beating market expectations of 200K.
Investors will be looking ahead to earnings season, which is set to kick off next week with results from major financial companies. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) will report before the bell on Wednesday while Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) will report before markets open on Thursday. Market participants will also be looking toward the wholesale inventories report set to be released at 10 a.m. on Friday.
During Thursday’s regular deals, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 87.06 points, or 0.25%, to 34,583.57, the S&P 500 gained 0.43% to 4,500.21 and the NASDAQ Composite added just 8.48 points or 0.06% to 13,897.30.