Weekly jobless claims eyed
U.S. stocks are set to open a little lower on Thursday as market participants await the release of initial jobless claims data.
The widely-watched initial jobless claims data is expected to show another 1.22 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance in the week ending June 13.
A total of 1.54 million unemployment benefits were filed in the prior week, marking the 10th-straight week of deceleration since first-time claims peaked at 6.9 million in late March.
More than 44 million people have filed for jobless claims over the past 3 months due to coronavirus-related layoffs. The U.S. Labor Department will release the report at 8:30 a.m. ET.
By 6:05 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures were down 49 points or 0.19% to 25,976. The S&P 500 futures dropped 5.22 points, or 0.17% to 3,101.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures lost 1.88 points to 9,981.12.
U.S. drops talks with Europe over a global digital tax
The Trump administration has withdrawn from international efforts to create international tax rules for tech companies such as Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)’s Google and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB).
The decision came after the U.S. and a group of nations failed to reach an agreement on the best way to tax revenue from digital firms, according to the Financial Times.
In a letter dated June 12, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin told finance ministers in France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom that discussions are at an “impasse.”
“Attempting to rush such difficult negotiations is a distraction from far more important matters. This is a time when governments around the world should focus their attention on dealing with the economic issues resulting from Covid-19,” Mnuchin said in the letter.
He also warned the U.S. would hit back “with appropriate commensurate measures” if Europe presses ahead with its own plans.
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire blasted the move on Thursday calling it a “provocation” and asking: “Is this a way to treat US allies… to systematically threaten us with sanction?”
He added that whatever happens, France “will apply the tax on digital giants in 2020, as it’s a question of justice.”
Kroger reports earnings today
Shares of Kroger (NYSE: KR) were slightly higher in pre-market trade as the company prepares to report its first-quarter earnings results.
Analysts are hoping for evidence that the retailer has performed better than its smaller rivals when it announces ahead of the opening bell.
The company is expected to post earnings of $1.04 per share, on revenue of $40.45 billion. Kroger is also expected to boost its second quarter earnings outlook, which is currently set at $2.30 to $2.40 per share.
At the time of writing this piece, the stock was up 64 cents, or 1.95% to $33.45 a share.
