Contracts for futures on the major indices of the New York Stock Exchange are trading higher on Thursday morning as investors keep a close eye on the Middle East and prepare for a new wave of company results and economic indicators.
Around 12:50 pm, the futures contract for the Dow Jones index was up 0.5%, at 49,249 points, while the S&P 500 contract gained 0.1%, at 7,176 points. The Nasdaq 100 contract, which is rich in technology stocks, rose by 0.2%, to 27,386 points.
In the midst of continued uncertainty in the Middle East, oil prices remain well above the symbolic $100 per barrel threshold. By midday, the June contract for light sweet crude oil (WTI), traded on the Nymex, stood at $107 per barrel, which is expected to fuel future inflationary pressures.
On Wednesday evening, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted that the peak in energy prices had not yet been reached in response to the surge in oil prices, and that developments in the Middle East could limit the Fed’s ability to lower interest rates. The Fed, as expected, kept its policy unchanged on Wednesday and showed division on the approach to take in the coming months.
On the macroeconomic front, investors will pay close attention on Thursday to a series of economic indicators, including the PCE index for March and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter in the United States.
Meanwhile, the earnings season continues on Thursday. The financial accounts of Caterpillar, Mastercard, and Merck Sharp and Dohme will be scrutinized. Market participants will also react to the earnings reports from Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft, which were released on Wednesday evening.
In the foreign exchange market, the DXY index, which measures the value of the greenback against a basket of currencies, dropped by 0.5%, to 98.46 points.
UPCOMING EVENTS: -2:30 pm: PCE index, household income and spending for March -2:30 pm: first estimate of GDP for the first quarter -2:30 pm: weekly jobless claims -After Wall Street: Apple quarterly results
Agefi-Dow Jones The financial newswire
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