U.S. Stocks May See Early Strength Amid Spike By Intel

(RTTNews) - After ending yesterday's volatile session mixed, stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.7 percent.

Technology stocks may help lead an early rally on Wall Street, as reflected by the 1.1 percent surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures.

The upward momentum for tech stocks comes as shares of Intel (INTC) are soaring by 30.2 percent in pre-market trading after the chipmaker announced a collaboration with Nvidia (NVDA) to jointly develop multiple generations of custom data center and PC products.

Nvidia, which is jumping by 2.7 percent in pre-market trading after moving to the downside over the past few sessions, will invest $5 billion in Intel's common stock at a purchase price of $23.28 per share.

The futures remained firmly positive following the release of a Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims pulled back by more than expected in the week ended September 13th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 231,000, a decrease of 33,000 from the previous week's revised level of 264,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to pull back to 240,000 from the 263,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Not long after the start of trading, the Conference Board is due to release its report on leading economic indicators in the month of August. The leading economic index is expected to edge down by 0.1 percent in August, matching the dip seen in July.

Stocks turned in a lackluster performance throughout much of the session on Wednesday before seeing substantial volatility in afternoon trading following the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement.

The major averages showed wild swings back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing mixed. While the Dow climbed 260.42 points or 0.6 percent to 46,018.32, the S&P 500 edged down 6.41 points or 0.1 percent to 6,600.35 and the Nasdaq fell 72.63 points or 0.3 percent to 22,261.33.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1.2 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside. While the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both up by 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is posting a more modest gain, up by 0.2 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are rising $0.34 to $64.39 a barrel after falling $0.47 to $64.05 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after slipping $7.30 to $3,717.80 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are sliding $15.50 to $3,702.30 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 147.54 yen versus the 146.99 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1806 compared to yesterday's $1.1813.