Futures Pointing To Choppy Trading Early On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Following the upward move seen over the two previous sessions, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by less than a tenth of a percent.

Traders may take a step back to assess the near-term outlook for the markets following the volatility seen earlier in the week.

Stocks pulled back on Monday after last week's week rally only to regain ground during relatively choppy trading on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Optimism about another interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week helped the major averages more than offset Monday's decline.

The futures remained little changed even after the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to a three-year low in the week ended November 29th.

The report said initial jobless claims slid to 191,000, a decrease of 27,000 from the previous week's revised level of 218,000.

Economist had expected jobless claims to rise to 220,000 from the 216,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the unexpected decline, jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting 189,000 in the week ended September 24, 2022.

After showing a lack of direction early in the session, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. While the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 posted modest gains, the narrower Dow showed a more notable move to the upside.

The major averages all finished the day in positive territory. The Dow jumped 408.44 points or 0.9 percent to 47,882.90, the Nasdaq rose 40.42 points or 0.2 percent to 23,454.09 and the S&P 500 climbed 20.35 points or 0.3 percent to 6,849.72.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 2.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 1.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are advancing $0.42 to $59.37 a barrel after climbing $0.31 to $58.95 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after rising $11.70 to $4,232.50 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are slipping $10.80 to $4,221.70 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 154.87 yen versus the 155.24 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1662 compared to yesterday's $1.1670.