Stock futures point to a lower start
U.S. stock markets were poised to extend losses Thursday after the latest Fed minutes released Wednesday showed the central bank was not immediately prepared to unveil additional unconventional policy measures to support the coronavirus-battered economy.
Minutes published from its July 28-29 Federal Open Market Committee meeting ruled out for now more dovish monetary measures such as the adoption of an average inflation target and yield curve control.
Policymakers, however, reiterated the economic downturn caused by the virus faces a highly uncertain path and more fiscal stimulus would be needed to prop up the economy.
By 5:40 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow indicated a loss of 100 points, or 0.36% to 27,532. The S&P 500 futures shed 12.58 points, or 0.37% to 3,360.12 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were down 33.5 points, or 0.3% to 11,298.5.
Weekly jobless claims in focus
Today, focus will be on the U.S. Department of Labor, which will publish its weekly report on initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. Consensus forecasts call for 925,000 million new claims for the week ending August 14.
Claims fell below one million last week for the first time since coronavirus pandemic struck in March. Economists expect continuing claims to come in at 15 million, from 15.486 million in the prior week.
Uber, Lyft shutdown looms in California
Uber (NYSE: UBER) and Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) have announced they will close their passenger services across California for at least several months or more, unless a state appeals court decides to intervene today.
The ride-sharing giants have asked an appeals court to delay California’s preliminary injunction that requires them to migrate all of their gig workers to employee status.
Last week, a state judge ordered both companies to start classifying all drivers as employees by today (August 20). However, the companies have argued that classifying drivers as employees would take time and are asking for a delay.
Airbnb submits confidential IPO paperwork
Popular vacation rental app Airbnb has taken another step in its initial public offering progress.
The company released a statement Wednesday, saying that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock. Airbnb did not reveal the number of shares it expects to sell, or what price it plans to offer them at.
An IPO for the company is expected to follow once the SEC completes the review process, and subject to market and other conditions. According to the Wall Street Journal, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) will lead the offering with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) also playing a key role,
