US pre-open: Futures trade higher ahead of jobless claims data
Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Thursday as investors awaited the publication of this week's jobless claims report from the Labor Department.
As of 1240 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.14%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.21% and 0.20% firmer, respectively.
The Dow closed just 1.58 points higher on Wednesday, doing very little to reclaim any of the previous session's heavy losses.
Thursday's primary focus will be the Labor Department's all-important jobless claims report at 1330 GMT, with initial claims expected to increase from 225,000 to 230,000, while continuing claims were seen dropping from 160.8m to 160.0m.
Market participants also continued to assess the likelihood of a coming recession ahead of an expected 50 basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next week, with many traders now losing faith in the central bank's ability to engineer a soft landing.
AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "US and European futures are indicating a lower open as investors continue to assess the odds of the potential recession taking place in the US and in Europe. This is the key reason that we have seen the US and European markets closing lower for the past three consecutive days.
"In addition, traders and investors are also concerned about China's zero covid policy, and the recent changes in their stance have made some investors more optimistic. There are some indications that China is likely to bring life back to its normal level as Beijing has decided to ease off some of the Covid-related measures."
In the corporate space, Lululemon Athletica, DocuSign, Broadcom, and Costco will all report earnings after the close of trading.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com