Weekly jobless claims in focus
Wall Street appears set for a flat open on Thursday as traders await weekly jobless figures to gauge the health of the U.S. labor market.
As of 5:30 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures were down 13 points, or 23,153. Futures tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained 26.5 points to 9,018.75 while S&P 500 futures were little changed.
The Labor Department will release the weekly jobless figures for the week ended May 9 at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists estimate the report to show 2.5 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week due to COVID-19-related layoffs. That would bring the total unemployment claims filed in the past eight weeks to 36 million.
Powell stresses need for more fiscal stimulus
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday warned that the U.S. economic recovery could be slow and painful if the White House and Congress don’t do enough to counter the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is a growing sense that the recovery may come more slowly than we would like…and that may mean that it’s necessary for us to do more,” Powell said in an online speech and question-and-answer session hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“The recovery may come more slowly than we would like, but it will come. It’s important to remember, the Fed has lending powers but not spending powers,” he added.
Powell said unemployment levels are likely to remain high. He also revealed that the Fed is not considering negative interest rates as part of its response to the pandemic, adding that it would continue using other tools at its disposal.
Uber and Grubhub reportedly still in takeover talks
Uber (NYSE: UBER) and GrubHub (NYSE: GRUB) are still holding discussions about a potential all-stock takeover deal, according to a report on The Wall Street Journal. People familiar with the matter told the publication that the offer would value Grubhub at roughly $6 billion.
Under the terms of the deal, Grubhub shareholders would receive 1.9 Uber shares for each of their Grubhub shares, the sources said. That would value Grubhub stock at $62.72, based on the closing price of Uber stock on Wednesday.
Initially, Grubhub reportedly sought 2.15 Uber shares for each of its own, but Uber turned down that request.
