By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen edging higher at the open Thursday, rebounding after the previous session’s losses ahead of weekly unemployment data and a potentially significant policy-setting meeting from the European Central Bank.
At 7 AM ET (1100 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 150 points or 0.5%, S&P 500 Futures traded 23 points or 0.6% higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 80 points or 0.7%.
The main indices on Wall Street retreated Wednesday, weighed by sharp losses from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) after the world’s largest semiconductor chip manufacturer offered up a disappointing near-term outlook amid pressure from falling demand as clients cut inventory levels.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 270 points, or 0.8%, while the broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 0.7% lower.
Investors are keenly focusing on the moves by central banks in the U.S. and Europe. The European Central Bank is expected to signal later in the session that it is ready to raise its interest rates for the first time in a decade, and next week, the Federal Reserve will make its next move in the battle against inflation.
Friday sees the latest U.S. consumer inflation, which is expected to remain at an elevated 8.3% year-on-year in May, although the core index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is seen dropping to 5.9% on the year, from 6.2%.
Ahead of that, the weekly initial jobless claims are due later Thursday, with recent weeks showing unemployment to be near-lows not seen since the late 1960s.
In corporate news, Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) is likely to be in the spotlight after the discount retailer’s stock traded sharply lower premarket on the back of the release of disappointing first quarter revenue and weal full-year guidance after the close Thursday.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock rose premarket, boosted by an upgrade from UBS, even after Reuters reported that production at its Shanghai factory is on track to fall by over a third this quarter from the first three months of the year, more than CEO Elon Musk had predicted.
Oil prices edged lower from the three-month highs after a renewed precautionary lockdown in parts of Shanghai revived fears of prolonged demand destruction from the world’s largest crude importer.
That said, further downside looks limited after official data on Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, showed U.S. gasoline stockpiles dropped by 812,000 barrels last week, indicating fuel demand resilience during peak summer despite soaring prices.
By 7 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% lower at $121.97 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.1% to $123.54. Both benchmarks closed Wednesday at their highest since March 8.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,851.30/oz, while EUR/USD gained 0.1% to 1.0718.