Futures edge higher
U.S. stocks are expected to open positive on Thursday as traders wait to see whether Congress and the White House can put aside deep partisan differences to agree on a new stimulus package for the economy.
As of 5:40 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures indicated a gain of 241 points, or 0.87% to 27,905. The S&P 500 futures added 29.38 points, or 0.88% to 3,381.38 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were up 117.5 points, or 1.03% to 11,524.75.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met for about 90 minutes Wednesday although they did not strike a deal. However, both said afterward they had made progress and planned to continue discussions.
Mnuchin later told Fox Business that he sees a deal costing between $1.5 trillion and $2.2 trillion. He also said the Trump administration was seeking to provide more federal assistance to, schools, small businesses, and additional funds to coronavirus tracing and testing as well.
Jobless claims on watch
Traders will also be watching weekly jobless claims data due at 8:30 a.m. ET for clues about the pace of recovery in the U.S. economy. The weekly U.S. jobless claims report comes ahead of Friday’s more closely followed monthly nonfarm-payrolls report.
Economists expect Labor Department to say initial claims remained steady around 850,000 in the week ended Sept. 25. Continuing jobless claims are expected to come in at 12.25 million from 12.6 million.
Labor-market data released Wednesday from payment processor Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ: ADP) showed the private-sector performed strongly, adding 749,000 jobs in September, well above expectations.
Palantir, Asana make their market debuts
Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR), a secretive big data and surveillance company, made its stock market debut in a direct listing on Wednesday. The stock closed at $9.50 per share, up from its reference price of $7.25 per share, giving the company a market value of $15.8 billion. Shares trade under the symbol “NYSE” on the New York Stock Exchange.
Asana (NYSE: ASAN) also went public via a direct listing on Wednesday. Shares of the business software company ended the session at $28.80, up 37% from their reference price of $21 per share.
