US pre-open: Futures point to losses ahead of jobless data
Wall Street futures were pointing to a negative open ahead of the bell on Thursday as market participants digested the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic and awaited this week's jobless data later in the day.
As of 1230 BST, Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures had the indices opening 0.46% and 0.45% lower, respectively, while Nasdaq futures were up 0.15%.
The Dow closed 170.37 points lower on Wednesday, snapping a three-day winning streak as market participants continued to watch the situation in the US with some concern.
Investors were still keeping track of headlines around the coronavirus on Thursday, with the likes of Arizona and Texas both reporting a huge spike in numbers of new confirmed cases a day earlier.
Thursday's main focus will be the weekly initial jobless claims report, with economists expecting a total of 1.3m new filings in the week ended 13 June.
IG analyst Joshua Mahony said: "Between a potential surge in US Covid-19 cases, and a gradual shift in Trump’s re-election odds, US markets are starting to look over-exposed given the size of their rally over the course of Q2.
"Fears over a second wave remain front and centre for investors, with surging hospitalisations across a number of states pointing towards a critical period ahead for market sentiment. With John Bolton the latest source of concern for the Trump re-election campaign, it is perhaps unsurprising to see US markets underperform their seemingly more stable European and Asian counterparts."
In terms of macro news, jobless claims data will be published at 1330 BST, alongside the Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index, while the Conference Board's monthly leading index report will be released at 1500 BST.
Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester will deliver a speech at 1715 BST.
No major corporate earnings were scheduled for release on Thursday.