By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening in a muted fashion Thursday, after closing the previous session at record levels following the decision of the Federal Reserve to cut back on its monthly bond purchases, an acknowledgement of the strength of the U.S. economic recovery.
At 7:05 AM ET (1105 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 5 points, less than 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 6 points, or 0.1%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 60 points, or 0.4%.
The three major indices all closed at record levels for the fourth session in a row on Wednesday, after the U.S. central bank announced it would start reducing its $120 billion monthly bond purchases by $15 billion starting this month, aiming to be completed next year.
Importantly, Fed chief Jerome Powell repeated that price increases would be “transitory”, even with inflation at 30-year highs, and thus interest rate hikes were not on the immediate agenda.
"We don't think it is time yet to raise interest rates. There is still ground to cover to reach maximum employment," Powell said, adding that he thought that goal could perhaps be met late next year.
U.S. private employers maintained hiring in October, according to the private payroll report by ADP. Thursday sees the release of the weekly initial jobless claims data, with last week’s 281,000 number being the lowest since the start of the pandemic, ahead of Friday’s official monthly jobs report.
There are a number of companies scheduled to report quarterly results before the opening bell, including Regeneron (NASDAQ:REGN) and Kellogg (NYSE:K), while the likes of Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE), Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB), Square (NYSE:SQ) and Uber (NYSE:UBER) will post after the close.
Other companies in the spotlight include Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), after the semiconductor manufacturer offered up strong fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on the back of robust demand for its chips, and Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG), as travel rebounded during the July-September quarter.
Crude prices climbed Thursday, rebounding after recent losses ahead of a meeting of some of the globe’s top producers to discuss future output.
Weekly crude inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, released late Wednesday, showed a larger-than-expected build, suggesting the high gasoline prices are hitting demand for crude.
However, global supply remains tight and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies including Russia, a group called OPEC+, is expected to continue only gradually increasing overall production levels when they gather later Thursday.
By 7:05 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1.7% higher at $82.25 a barrel, after closing Wednesday at their lowest level since Oct. 13, while the Brent contract rose 1.9% to $83.53, having closed at their lowest level since Oct. 7.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.9% to $1,780.35/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.6% lower at 1.1546.