By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - U.S. stock futures dipped in overnight deals on Thursday, after mixed performances during regular trade as market participants remained cautious amid the continued spread of the Delta variant and fears of a bad monthly performance based on historic seasonal September declines.
During regular trade on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 63.07 points or 0.18% to 34751.33, the S&P 500 fell 6.93 points or 0.15% 4473.76, while the NASDAQ Composite added 20.39 points or 0.13% to 15181.92. For the week, the Dow is up 0.41%, the S&P 500 is up 0.34% and the Nasdaq Composite has gained 0.44%.
In U.S. policy news, President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed confidence that Congress will pass a US$3.5 trillion spending bill that funds child care, community college and other social programs, in addition to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that already has bipartisan support.
Among data, the Census Bureau reported Thursday that August’s retail sales increased 0.7% for the month beating market forecasts of a 0.8% drop amid fears that escalating Covid cases and supply chain issues would affect consumers. Meantime, weekly initial jobless claims came in at 332K for the week ended Sept. 11, slightly above expectations of 330K.