Jobless claims and PCE ahead, Salesforce lifts guidance - what's moving markets
Investing.com -- Investors await a fresh slew of U.S. economic data on Thursday after figures earlier in the week bolstered predictions that the Federal Reserve may soon end an aggressive interest rate hiking campaign. Dow futures point into the green, aided by improved guidance from Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), which boosted shares in the software group in premarket trading. Elsewhere, activity in China's key manufacturing sector contracts, spurring on calls for Beijing to take stronger action to support the stuttering economy.
1. Futures mixed after fourth-straight winning session
U.S. stock futures were mixed on Thursday, but hovered mostly around the flatline, after the main indices on Wall Street posted their fourth winning session in a row.
At 05:13 ET (09:13 GMT), the Dow futures contract moved up by 100 points or 0.3%, S&P 500 futures added 4 points or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures edged down by 8 points or 0.1%.
Investors are digesting a series of economic figures in recent days that have pointed to some slowing in the U.S. labor market, fueling expectations that the Fed may soon bring its long-standing cycle of interest rate hikes to a close.
In individual equities, cloud-software group Salesforce lifted its full-year revenue guidance, giving added support to Dow futures (more below).
2. Jobless claims, PCE ahead
Traders will have the chance to parse through weekly initial claims for unemployment benefits as well the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed's preferred gauge of inflation, later today.
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 numbers are the latest in a parade of
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