All eyes on unemployment claims data
U.S. stock futures traded cautiously on Thursday, as traders awaited the government to report on the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits for the week ended April 18. The U.S. Labor Department will release the figures at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Economists forecast that applications likely rose by another 4.2 million as businesses remained shut because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That would push the total number of people filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits to more than 26 million in the last five weeks.
By 5:40 a.m. ET, Dow futures were up 24.5 points, or 0.1% to 23,380.5 while S&P 500 futures rose 5.62 points, or 0.2% to 2,794.12. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a gain of 6.5 points to 8,644.5.
Oil prices bounce back on fresh U.S.-Iran tensions
Crude futures rebounded early Thursday, after President Donald Trump announced he has ordered the U.S. Navy to destroy Iranian gunboats that have been harassing U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf.
“I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday.
The president issued the warning after nearly a dozen Iranian fast patrol gunboats harassed a formation of U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships operating in international waters in the northern Persian Gulf last week, according to U.S. Central Command.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran can lift oil prices by signaling potential disruptions to the flow of oil through the Persian Gulf.
As of 5:40 a.m. ET, the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures contract for June delivery was up $1.85 a barrel, or 13.43% to $15.63. International Brent crude futures for June were at $22.10 a barrel, up $1.73, or 8.49%.
Intel, Eli Lilly earnings on watch
Traders will be monitoring a slew of earnings reports today, with Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) set to announce before the bell.
Wall Street expects Eli Lilly to report quarterly earnings of $1.48 a share, with revenue coming in at $5.51 billion. Domino’s Pizza is forecast to have earned $2.32 a share on revenue of $868.67 million during the March quarter.
Chipmaker Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is scheduled to publish its earnings after the market close. On average, analysts predict earnings of $1.27 a share on revenue of $18.67 billion.
