Investing.com – U.S. futures were down on Thursday as investors wait to find out who the next Federal Reserve chair will be.
The S&P 500 futures was down three points or 0.15% as of 6:50 AM ET (10:50 AM GMT) while Dow futures dragged down 19 points or 0.09%. Tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures fell seven points or 0.13%.
United States President Donald Trump is widely expected to nominate current Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell as the chair of the U.S. central bank, at 3:00PM ET (7:00 PM GMT). Powell is considered more dovish than other candidates.
Among the top gainers in pre-market trading were financial firm Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN), which rose 4.04% after its earnings came in higher than expected. Chinese e-commerce Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) increased 1.24% ahead of its earnings release while Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) was up 1.42%
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) was among the hardest hit before the morning bell, falling 1.18% despite reporting better than expected third quarter financial results. The social media site has faced controversy in the last few days over how Russia used the social network in an attempt to sway voters in the 2016 U.S. election. Meanwhile Luxury car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slumped 6.25% after it reported its worst financial quarter on Wednesday while Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) shares were down 1.22% after it cuts its 2017 forecast.
Dozens of earnings releases come out on Thursday, but the focus will be on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which releases its financial results after markets close. Other firms that are reporting before the morning bell include Ferrari (NYSE:RACE), DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP), and Blue Apron Holdings Inc (NYSE:APRN).
In economic news, initial jobless claims comes out at 8:30 AM ET (1:30 PM GMT).
In Europe, stocks were down. Germany’s DAX slumped 23 points or 0.18% while in France the CAC 40 lost two points to 0.04% and in London, the FTSE 100 increased 24 points or 0.33%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 was down eight points or 0.23% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slipped nine points or 0.09%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.02% to $1,276.94 a troy ounce while crude oil futures rose 0.02% to $54.31a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, decreased 0.17% to 94.54.