Jobless claims data eyed
U.S. stock futures were trading higher early Thursday ahead of the release of the weekly unemployment claims report and the Federal Reserve’s bank stress tests.
As of 5:40 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures indicated a gain of 183.5 points, or 0.54% to 33,942.5. S&P 500 futures rose 21.38 points, or 0.51% to 4,252.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 89.50 points, or 0.63% to 14,352.50.
The jobless claims report, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show initial claims for week ended June 19 dropped to 380,000 from the 412,000 reported by the Labor Department in the prior week.
Continuing claims for week ended June 12 are seen falling to 3.460 million from the 3.518 million reported during the prior week.
Nike, FedEx, BlackBerry earnings on tap
On the earnings front, analysts expect Nike (NYSE: NKE) to report fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 51 cents per share on revenue of $11.01 billion after the closing bell today.
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) is seen posting fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $4.99 per share and $21.51 billion revenue.
BlackBerry (NYSE: BB), which has become one of the hottest stocks this year, is estimated to report a loss of 5 cents per share on revenue of $171.25 million after the market close.
BuzzFeed reportedly nears deal to go public via SPAC
BuzzFeed is nearing a deal to go public through a merger with a blank-check company founded by investor Adam Rothstein, reports the Wall Street Journal.
People familiar with the matter told the Journal that BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti could announce a deal with special purpose acquisition company 890 5th Avenue Partners Inc (NASDAQ: ENFA) as early as this week.
BuzzFeed is hoping the deal will help it create a digital-media giant to better compete for the advertising-dollars pot with tech titans like Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) subsidiary Google.
Starlink to go public once cash flow is more predictable, says Musk
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday repeated his prediction that the company’s subsidiary Starlink, will only go public when its cash flow is more predictable.
“At least a few years before Starlink revenue is reasonably predictable. Going public sooner than that would be very painful. Will do my best to give long-term Tesla shareholders preference,” Musk said in response to a question on Twitter, where someone asked his thoughts on Starlink IPO.
Starlink allows people to connect to the internet via a satellite dish that is placed near or on their property. The internet is beamed down to the dish by dozens of Starlink satellites that SpaceX has deployed to orbit.
Musk has previously said that he wants the satellite internet service to bring in annual revenue of between $30 billion and $50 billion.
