Stocks poised for positive opening
U.S. stocks markets looks set to usher in the third quarter of the year with gains on Thursday, as traders brush off Covid delta variant concerns and focus on the June jobs report, which could provide clues on inflation and interest rates.
The closely watched June nonfarm payrolls report from the Labor Department will be published on Friday morning. Economists estimate that U.S. employers added 700,000 new jobs last month after 559,000 additions in May.
U.S. private-sector employment data released by the ADP on Wednesday showed that jobs increased by 692,000 last month, well above economists’ expectations for a gain of 550,000 jobs.
By 5:35 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow were up 80 points, or 0.23% to 34,479. S&P 500 futures rose 7.62 points, or 0.18% to 4,296.12 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures added 1 point to 14,550.
Jobless claims data on tap
Ahead of the June nonfarm payrolls report, traders will get a look at the initial jobless claims for the week ended June 26.
The data, due at 8:30 a.m. ET today, is expected to show the number of Americans filing for unemployment claims dropped to 388,000 from the 411,000 reported during the previous week.
Continuing claims for the week ended June 19 are seen coming at 3.340 million from 3.390 million a week earlier.
Crude rallies as traders await OPEC+ decision
Crude futures were also moving higher early Thursday as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies meet today to decide on production levels for the coming months.
According to reports, there is clear disagreement ahead of the meeting between Russia wanting to increase supply and Saudi Arabia pushing for a more cautious approach.
Meanwhile, data published Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed crude stockpiles fell by 6.7 million barrels for the week ended June 25, well above market expectations for a drop of 4.2 million barrels.
By 5:35 a.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at 81 cents, or 1.10% to $74.28 a barrel. Global Brent crude futures rose 82 cents, or 1.10% to $75.44 per barrel.
