Dow futures higher; jobless claims, PCE index, Salesforce earnings in focus
Investing.com — U.S. stock futures traded in a mixed fashion Thursday, as investors await the release of key inflation and unemployment data that could convince the Federal Reserve to pause on further interest rate increases.
By 06:30 ET (10:30 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 120 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 Futures traded 5 points, or 0.1%, higher, while Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 10 points, or 0.1%.
Wall Street’s main indices closed higher Wednesday, the fourth straight winning session. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%, while the broad-based S&P 500 climbed 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite 0.5%.
That said, these major averages are still on course to record monthly losses. The DJIA and Nasdaq Composite are each lower by around 2% in August, while the S&P 500 is off by 1.4%.
Recent economic data, including second quarter gross domestic product, job openings and private payrolls, all point to a cooling U.S. economy, raising expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon be finished with its rate-hiking cycle.
There is more data to digest Thursday, including weekly initial claims for unemployment benefits as well the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed's preferred gauge of inflation, ahead of Friday’s closely-watched nonfarm payrolls report.
Economists expect initial jobless claims to tick up slightly to 235,000, while the annual core PCE measure is seen accelerating slightly to 4.2%.
The Fed has lifted its federal funds rate from near-zero to a range of 5.25% to 5.50%, the highest level in more than 20 years, but is widely expected to stand pat in September.
Even with the cooling economic data, UBS is confident about the future, with the Swiss banking giant seeing a June
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