NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Thursday after Wall Street's best day in eight weeks and ahead of jobless claims and pending home sales data.
Investors will look to the reports for insight on the health of the U.S. economy before Friday's key nonfarm payroll report. Initial jobless claims are expected to rise by 2,000 to 475,000 for the latest week. The jobless data comes at 8:30 a.m. EDT.
Private employers unexpectedly cut 10,000 jobs in August, a report showed on Wednesday, but that was overshadowed by solid U.S. and Chinese factory data.
"They are going to look at the initial claims and see what direction that points in. Everyone is anticipating more negative numbers. It's just truly a matter of how negative are these numbers going to be," said Chris Hobart, chief executive of Hobart Financial Group in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"It just seems right now where the economy is and where consumer confidence is, unemployment reports almost have a bigger punch to the economy than we're used to seeing."
Other July data due includes factory orders, which are expected to show an increase of 0.3 percent, rebounding from a decline of 1.2 percent in June, and pending home sales, seen falling 1 percent after dropping 2.6 percent to a record low the previous month. The data will come at 10 a.m. EDT.
S&P 500 futures were unchanged and slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures dipped 9 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.5 points.
Retailers will garner attention as August U.S. same-store sales are expected to show modest gains with discounts used to attract customers. Analysts, on average, expected a 2.4 percent increase in same-store sales, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O), the largest U.S. warehouse club operator, reported a 7 percent rise in August same-store sales, aided by a surge in gasoline prices and foreign currency gains.
Avis Budget Group Inc (CAR.N) raised its offer for Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc (DTG.N) to $40.75 a share in cash and 0.6543 shares of Avis in stock, a deal it views as superior to the Hertz Global Holdings Inc (HTZ.N) offer.
European equities edged lower on Thursday ahead of a rate decision by the European Central Bank, after their biggest daily gain since May a day earlier, although auto shares provided some support.
Asian stocks hit a two-week high, with Japan's Nikkei briefly rising as much as 2 percent before closing up 1.5 percent.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
Investors will look to the reports for insight on the health of the U.S. economy before Friday's key nonfarm payroll report. Initial jobless claims are expected to rise by 2,000 to 475,000 for the latest week. The jobless data comes at 8:30 a.m. EDT.
Private employers unexpectedly cut 10,000 jobs in August, a report showed on Wednesday, but that was overshadowed by solid U.S. and Chinese factory data.
"They are going to look at the initial claims and see what direction that points in. Everyone is anticipating more negative numbers. It's just truly a matter of how negative are these numbers going to be," said Chris Hobart, chief executive of Hobart Financial Group in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"It just seems right now where the economy is and where consumer confidence is, unemployment reports almost have a bigger punch to the economy than we're used to seeing."
Other July data due includes factory orders, which are expected to show an increase of 0.3 percent, rebounding from a decline of 1.2 percent in June, and pending home sales, seen falling 1 percent after dropping 2.6 percent to a record low the previous month. The data will come at 10 a.m. EDT.
S&P 500 futures were unchanged and slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures dipped 9 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.5 points.
Retailers will garner attention as August U.S. same-store sales are expected to show modest gains with discounts used to attract customers. Analysts, on average, expected a 2.4 percent increase in same-store sales, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O), the largest U.S. warehouse club operator, reported a 7 percent rise in August same-store sales, aided by a surge in gasoline prices and foreign currency gains.
Avis Budget Group Inc (CAR.N) raised its offer for Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc (DTG.N) to $40.75 a share in cash and 0.6543 shares of Avis in stock, a deal it views as superior to the Hertz Global Holdings Inc (HTZ.N) offer.
European equities edged lower on Thursday ahead of a rate decision by the European Central Bank, after their biggest daily gain since May a day earlier, although auto shares provided some support.
Asian stocks hit a two-week high, with Japan's Nikkei briefly rising as much as 2 percent before closing up 1.5 percent.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
