NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stock futures made mild gains ahead of the opening bell, after a lower-than-expected weekly report on jobless claims was released Thursday.
After falling earlier in the morning, Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were slightly higher. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.
Stocks surged earlier this week, sending all three major gauges to 5-month highs. But investors have had trouble keeping up that momentum amid reports showing weakness in the labor sector.
"I'm amazed at the market's positive moves the last couple of weeks, because when you actually look at the hard facts -- we're really not making a lot of progress, nor are other countries around the world," said Cassandra Toroian, chief investment officer of Bell Rock Capital. "There's still a lot of uncertainty about jobs, and it really doesn't look like it's getting any better."
Some of that sentiment lifted Thursday morning, with the weekly jobless claims report -- but the true test will come on Friday, with the monthly payrolls report.
Economy: The initial jobless claims number was the lowest in nearly 3 months, providing a breath of fresh air to the market. The Labor Department on Thursday reported that jobless claims totaled 445,000 in the week ended Oct. 2, down 11,000 from the prior week.
Economists were expecting the government to report 455,000 Americans filed for unemployment for the first time last week, pointing to continued weakness in the job market.
Traders are mostly waiting for the monthly employment report due out from the U.S. Labor Department on Friday, which will offer a measure of the jobs situation nationwide.
Investors also will be watching retailers' September same-store sales figures Thursday for indications about consumer spending.
Companies: Rumors that Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) is preparing a version of its iPhone, currently only carried by AT&T (T, Fortune 500), for Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) started swirling again after the Wall Street Journal published a report Wednesday saying the phone may be on shelves early next year. Apple's stock was little changed in pre-market trading.
PepsiCo (PEP, Fortune 500) was the first major company to report third-quarter results Thursday. Pepsi earned $1.22 per share during the quarter, in line with analysts' forecasts and up 13% from the year-ago quarter. Pepsi slipped about 2% in pre-market trading.
Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) is the first Dow component to report results, due out after the closing bell Thursday. The aluminum giant is expected to post a 33% jump in profit to 5 cents a share. Sales are forecast to rise 7% to $4.96 billion.
World markets: European inched up in morning trading, recovering losses from earlier in the session. Britain's FTSE 100, the DAX in Germany and France's CAC 40 were nearly flat, with the DAX and CAC 40 making only slight gains.
Asian markets were also flat. Japan's Nikkei index and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong both finished little changed. The Shanghai Composite is closed for a week-long holiday.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against major international currencies, including the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen. Currency traders are also keeping an eye on the Australian dollar, which rose as high as 99 U.S. cents on Thursday, approaching parity with the greenback.
Gold futures for December delivery kept up their record run. Prices gained $9.80 to $1,357.60 an ounce, after hitting an intraday high of $1,366 an ounce earlier.
The price of crude oil for November delivery rose 64 cents to $83.87 per barrel.
Bonds: The yield for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged down to 2.4%.
Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
---|---|---|---|
30 yr fixed | 3.80% | 3.88% | |
15 yr fixed | 3.20% | 3.23% | |
5/1 ARM | 3.84% | 3.88% | |
30 yr refi | 3.82% | 3.93% | |
15 yr refi | 3.20% | 3.23% |
Today's featured rates:
Index | Last | Change | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
Dow | 32,627.97 | -234.33 | -0.71% |
Nasdaq | 13,215.24 | 99.07 | 0.76% |
S&P 500 | 3,913.10 | -2.36 | -0.06% |
Treasuries | 1.73 | 0.00 | 0.12% |
Company | Price | Change | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
Ford Motor Co | 8.29 | 0.05 | 0.61% |
Advanced Micro Devic... | 54.59 | 0.70 | 1.30% |
Cisco Systems Inc | 47.49 | -2.44 | -4.89% |
General Electric Co | 13.00 | -0.16 | -1.22% |
Kraft Heinz Co | 27.84 | -2.20 | -7.32% |
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