Wall Street Poised To Open Lower

(RTTNews) - Jobless Claims for the week, PPI-Final Demand as well as Fed Chairman Jerome Powel's speech might get attention on Thursday.

Initial trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower.

Geopolitical developments, especially Israeli airstrike on Southern Gaza that killed at least 100 is closely monitored.

Asian shares finished mostly down, while European shares are trading mixed.

As of 8.05 am ET, the Dow futures were declining 156.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were sliding 25.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were down 123.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished broadly up on Wednesday. The Dow slumped 89.37 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 42,051.06, while the NASDAQ rallied 136.72 points or 0.72 percent to close at 19,146.81 and the S&P 500 rose 6.03 points or 0.10 percent to end at 5,892.58.

On the economic front, the Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 229K, while it was up 228k, in the prior week.

The PPI-Final demand for April is expected at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is up 0.2 percent, while it was down 0.4 percent in the prior month.

The Commerce Department's Retail sales for April is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.1 percent, while it was up 1.4 percent in the prior month.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for May will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is minus 10.0, while it was minus 26.4 in April.

The Empire State Manufacturing Index for May will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is minus 7.5, while it was minus 8.1 in the prior month. The Manufacturing output is expected to be up 0.0 percent, while it was up 0.3 percent. 0

The Business Inventories for March is scheduled at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.2 percent, while it was up 0.2 percent in the February.

The Housing Market Index for May will be revealed at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 40.0, while it was up 40.0 in the prior month.

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 104 bcf.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be revealed at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the Level was at $6.711 trillion.

Federal Chairman Jerome Powell will speak on 'Framework Review' before the Thomas Laubach Research Conference at 8.40 am ET.

Fed Governor Michael Barr will give opening remarks before virtual 2025 Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Small Business Credit Symposium hosted by the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Boston and Richmond at 2.05 pm ET.

European shares are trading mixed. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is declining 20.31 points or 0.26 percent. The German DAX is sliding 21.02 points or 0.09 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is gaining 13.89 points or 0.16 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is adding 30.53 points or 0.25 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is up 0.41 percent.