Stock futures mixed
Stocks were poised for a mixed start Thursday after the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index posted its 25th record close for 2020, helped by Apple (AAPL), Tesla (TSLA), Amazon (AMZN), and Microsoft (MSFT).
By 5:30 a.m. ET, futures tied to the Dow pointed to a loss of 87 points, or 0.34% at 25,882. S&P 500 futures dropped 6.88 points, or 0.22% to 3,156.62 while the Nasdaq 100 futures were down 16.5 points, or 0.15% to 10,678.75.
Meanwhile, the rally for Chinese stocks continued on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite leading Asia’s equity markets higher. Analysts believes that the gains have been spurred a recovering domestic economy and eased monetary conditions after the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Weekly jobless claims eyed
On the economic data front, traders will be watching the initial jobless claims report for the week ended July 3.
The report, which is due at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show another 1.4 million claims were filed in the previous week. Continuing claims are seen coming in at 18.7 million.
Even though initial jobless claims have dipped below the 6.8 million record filed in March, they are still high compared to the pre-pandemic average of about 200,000.
Bed Bath & Beyond tumbles after earnings; Walgreen reports today
Meanwhile, shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) are falling after the company posted a net loss of $302.29 million, or $2.44 per share late Wednesday.
Revenue came in at $1.31 billion, down 49% from $2.57 billion a year ago. The company also said it intends to permanently shut about 200 of its namesake stores over the next two years.
At the time of writing, the stock was down 9.13% to $9.46 a share in the pre-market trading session.
Today, traders are awaiting Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) to announce third-quarter earnings ahead of the opening bell. Analysts polled by FactSet expect the pharmacy chain to report earnings of $1.2 a share on revenue of $34.3 billion ahead of the opening bell.
In the same period last year, the company reported earnings of $1.47 a share on revenue of $34.6 billion. Walgreens shares, which have a market value of $37.1 billion, were down 2.18% to $41.37 in pre-market.
