Richard Bernstein Advisors Deputy Chief Investment Officer Dan Suzuki on what can be expected from the markets in the coming months.
U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher ahead of Thursday’s session.
The major futures indices point to a 0.2% gain when the Wall Street session begins.
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Traders will analyze a handful of economic reports that could affect trading.
The Labor Department will report on new claims for unemployment benefits for last week. Watch out for a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week to 830,000. Continued claims, which follow the total number of unemployed workers claiming benefits, are expected to decline to 4.7 million, the lowest since March 21.
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At the same time, the productivity and labor costs of the fourth quarter are released. Economists surveyed by Refinitiv expect employee productivity to decline at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.8% last year, after rising 4.6% in the third quarter. Labor costs per unit are expected to rise by 4%, after falling by 6.6% in the September quarter.
The trade department will place factory orders for December.
It will also be a very busy day for earnings with healthcare being a big focus in the morning when Cigna, AmerisourceBergen, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Quest Diagnostics report.
Consumer-oriented names like Clorox, Hershey Yum Brands, Tapestry and Ralph Lauren will also report.
After the closing of the clock, investors will pay attention to, among others, News Corp, Ford Motor, Activision Blizzard and Peloton.
In Europe, the London FTSE rose by 0.1%, the German DAX by 0.5% and the French CAC by 0.5%,
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 slipped by 1.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng by 0.7% and China’s Shanghai Composition by 0.4%.
Wall Street ended with modest gains, with the S&P 500 rising 3.86 points, or 0.1%, to 3,830.17, after moving between a gain of 0.6% and a loss of 0.3% swung. The small profit increased the finish line of the benchmark index to a third day.
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Alter | Alter% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ek: DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGE | 30723.6 | +36.12 | + 0.12% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 3830.17 | +3.86 | + 0.10% |
| I: COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITION INDEX | 13610.543204 | -2.23 | -0.02% |
The Dow Jones Industrial Average averaged 36.12 points, or 0.1%, to 30,723.60. The technically heavy Nasdaq dropped 2.23 points, or less than 0.1%, to 13,610.54. The index was briefly above its everyday high last week.
Investors continued to watch shares of companies such as GameStop and AMC Entertainment, which made a moderate profit on Wednesday. GameStop rose 2.7% and AMC climbed 14.7%. The shares have been caught in a speculative frenzy by traders in online forums who want to inflict damage on Wall Street hedge funds betting that the shares would fall.
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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called a meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve and others to discuss recent market volatility and to determine “whether recent activity is in line with investor protection and fair and efficient.” markets, “said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. said.
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In energy trading, standard U.S. crude rose 46 cents to $ 56.15 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It picked up 93 cents to $ 55.69 a barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international standard, added 38 cents to $ 58.84 a barrel.
Associated Press contributed to this article.