Futures Point To Lower Open For Wall Street

Weekly Jobless Claims, Existing Home Sales, and Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity might get special attention on Thursday.

Early cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower.
Asian shares finished down, while European shares are trading in the negative territory.

As of 7.41 am ET, the Dow futures were down 184.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 34.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 155.25 points.

The U.S. major averages ended lower on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, tumbling 209.06 points or 1.5 percent to 13,469.13, its lowest closing level in almost a month.

The S&P 500 also slumped 41.75 points or 0.9 percent to a nearly one-month closing low of 4,402.20, while the Dow posted a more modest loss, slipping 76.85 points or 0.2 percent to 34,440.88.

On the economic front, the Jobless Claims for the week is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 225K, while it was up 220K in the prior week.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for September will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.5, while it was up 12 in the prior month.

The Commerce Department’s Current Account for the second quarter will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $220.6 billion while the deficit was at $219.3 billion in the previous quarter.

The Existing Home Sales for August is scheduled at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 4.10 million, while it was up 4.07 million in the prior month.

The Leading Indicators for August is expected at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is down 0.3 percent, while it was down 0.4 percent in July.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Natural gas Report for the week will be published at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was up 57 bcf.

A ten-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities or TIPS auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week is expected at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the level was at $8.099 trillion.

Asian stocks tumbled on Thursday. Chinese stocks ended notably lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.77 percent to 3,084.70 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.29 percent to 17,655.41.

Japanese stocks lost ground at the close. The Nikkei average fell 1.37 percent to 32,571.03 while the broader Topix index ended down 0.94 percent at 2,383.41.

Australian markets declined. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.37 percent to 7,065.20 while the broader All Ordinaries index settled 1.29 percent lower at 7,266.60.

European shares are trading down. CAC 40 of France is declining 109.59 points or 1.49 percent. DAX of Germany is sliding 182.75 points or 1.15 percent. FTSE 100 of England is at a downtrend at 15.94 points or 0.21 percent. The Swiss Market Index is down 17.24 points or 0.16 percent.

Euro Stoxx 50 which provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is down 1.47 percent.

Source: Read Full Article