Futures point to a flat open ahead of Thanksgiving Day
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a flat open Wednesday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 30,000 mark for the first time ever in the previous session.
The blue-chip gauge added 454 points, or 1.5%, to close at 30,046, a record closing high and up 62% from its March low.
By 6:10 a.m. ET, futures tied to the Dow were indicated 65 points, or 0.22% lower to $29,933. Those for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gained 24.12 points, or 0.2% to 12,100.12 while those for the S&P 500 were little changed.
The stock and bond markets will be closed on Thursday, in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. On Black Friday, the stock market will shut early, at 1 p.m. ET, while the bond market will close at 2 p.m. ET.
Jobless claims data & Fed minutes on tap
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor is expected to publish its weekly jobless claims data today because of Thanksgiving.
Economists expect the report, due to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, to show that jobless claims stood at 730,000 last week, down from the over 743,000 reported in the previous week.
Jobless filings have dropped sharply since last spring, when more than six million Americans were applying for weekly benefits. However, progress has stalled in recent months.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November meeting are also scheduled to be published today, at 2 p.m. ET. Market participants will be watching for any change in wording amid increasing hopes that the Fed might announce some changes at its upcoming December meeting.
Nikola slides as CEO fails to provide more details about the future of a $2bn deal with General Motors
Shares of Nikola (NASDAQ: NKLA) tumbled in pre-market trading on Wednesday after CEO Mark Russell failed to reassure shareholders that General Motors (NYSE: GM) won’t back out of the $2 billion partnership it agreed to enter with the electric-truck start-up earlier this year.
In an interview on CNBC’s Mad Money with Jim Cramer, Russell said talks with General Motors about supplying battery technologies and fuel cell as well as an all-electric pickup are going on. He, however, declined to comment much further than that.
The fate of the $2 billion investment deal has been uncertain after Nikola was accused of fraud by short-seller Hindenburg Research. If the deal is not completed by Dec. 3, either of the two companies can walk away from the deal.
As of this writing, Nikola stock was down 8.,70% to $31.50 a share in the pre-market
