US pre-open: Stocks mixed ahead of jobless claims data, GDP estimate
Wall Street stocks were mostly lower ahead of the bell on Thursday, with the Dow Jones looking set to ease off after registering another record close.
As of 1240 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.07%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.21% and 0.76% lower, respectively.
The Dow closed 424.51 points higher on Wednesday in what was a volatile session for major indices.
Rising rates were again in focus prior to the open on Thursday after the US 10-year Treasury yield hit 1.46% early on, with fears that higher rates could spur investors to rotate out of stocks and into bonds persisting.
Some key data points will also draw an amount of investor attention on Thursday, with the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims data and the Department of Commerce's second estimate for fourth-quarter gross domestic product both pencilled-in for 1330 GMT.
AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "The dominant concern among investors and traders throughout this week has been the possibility of an early increase in interest rates as the coronavirus situation begins to improve due to the vaccination process. Investors were worried that any increase in interest rate might choke off the economic recovery in the U.S.
"However, for the last two days, Jerome Powell, the Fed Chairman, confirmed and reassured investors (in his two days testimony) that the Fed is far from thinking of such action. He reminded the market that the Fed always prepares the market well in advance for such an action, and it gives plenty of time for market players to readjust their expectations which are reflected in their portfolios. Therefore, the fact that the Federal Reserve downplayed the threat of inflation is pushing the Treasury yields lower as well, and investors are back in risk-on mode."
As far as Covid-19 figures were concerned, the US has now recorded more than 28.97m total cases, claiming the lives of over 518,360 Americans in the process.
On the macro front, monthly durable goods orders will also be released at 1330 GMT, while pending home sales data for January and February's Kansas Fed manufacturing index will follow at 1500 GMT and 1600 GMT, respectively.
In the corporate space, SeaWorld reported a narrower-than-expected fourth-quarter loss of $45.4m as both attendance and guest spending levels came in ahead of forecasts, while Best Buy, Domino's Pizza and Papa John's were also slated to report before the open.
Still to come, Airbnb, Beyond Meat, HP, Groupon, Eventbrite, Etsy and Salesforce will all update on recent trading after the close.