Wall Street seen extending losses
U.S. stock futures were trading lower early Thursday, suggesting slight opening bell losses on Wall Street as traders await a big speech by Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell that could weigh on stocks and bond yields.
Powell will appear at a Wall Street Journal webinar at 12:05 p.m. ET, where markets expect him to say the Fed will be “patient” in raising rates from record lows once the Covid-19 pandemic ends.
By 5:20 a.m. ET, futures tied to the Dow were down 127 points, or 0.41% to 31,109. Those linked to the S&P 500 futures fell 19.5 points, or 0.51% to 3,797.25 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped 60.87 points, or 0.48% to 12,620.88.
Broadcom, Kroger, Costco earnings
On the earnings front, traders are awaiting quarterly reports from Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), Kroger (NYSE: KR), Costco (NASDAQ: COST), BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ).
Analysts expect Broadcom to report earnings of $6.55 per share on revenue of $6.61 billion, while Costco is seen reporting earnings of $2.45 per share on sales of $43.78 billion.
Kroger is projected to post earnings of 69 cents per share on sales of $30.86 billion. BJ’s Wholesale Club is forecast to come out with earnings of 67 cents per share and revenue of $3.94 billion.
Weekly jobless claims eyed
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor is scheduled to publish its weekly report on initial unemployment claims at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Economists expect the report to show 750,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week ended Feb. 27, up from 730,000 filed during the prior week.
The data comes a day before the release of February U.S. employment report, which will provide an update on the direction and speed of America’s jobs market recovery.
Netflix to release 41 new shows in India to fend off Disney Plus and Amazon Prime
Netflix (NYSE: NFLX) plans to release 41 shows and films in the lucrative India market this year to take on rivals Disney Plus (NYSE: DIS) and Amazon Prime Video (NASDAQ: AMZN).
Netflix said in a blog post Wednesday that the titles will include films with top Bollywood actors, original series and stand-up comedy shows.
India is an important growth market for American streaming companies, thanks to its huge, film-loving population of 1.4 billion. The companies are all offering an increasingly wide range of local language content and have been luring viewers with cheaper offers and billing plans.
