US Stock Futures Lower Ahead Of Jobs Data, Retail Sales Updates
stock market drops
U.S. stock market futures dropped Thursday as investors showed little appetite for extending the previous session’s modest gains, with earnings from General Motors Co. and the latest figures on weekly jobless claims to come.Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48 points to 11770 and Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures were down 6.50 points at 1248. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 12.25 points to 2290.25.The Dow industrials closed up around 30 points on Wednesday, booking its first day of gains in nine sessions, as largely upbeat corporate results helped offset more disappointing data on activity in the services sector and at factories.
On the data front Thursday, weekly jobless claims figures will be released at 8:30 a.m., EDT Economists polled by MarketWatch are expecting claims to edge back up to 400,000 from 398,000 in the previous week.The data will come as a precursor to Friday’s closely watched nonfarm payrolls figures. Economists are expecting Friday’s numbers to show 75,000 jobs were added in July following extremely disappointing figures in June.The recent stream of disappointing data has weighed on the dollar, but that trend reversed sharply Thursday after Japan intervened in currency markets to curb the yen’s strength. The dollar jumped 3.6% against the yen to 79.93 yen and the dollar index rose by 15 to 74.65.
Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.2% as most other Asian markets fell.European markets were choppy Thursday as sovereign debt worries continued to hang over the Continent. The FTSE 100 index dropped 0.6%, after rising as much as 1.1% earlier in the session.European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet is likely to take a wait-and-see approach to future interest rate moves at a press conference Thursday amid slowing growth and the market turmoil created by the sovereign crisis.The press conference will follow rate decisions by both the ECB and Bank of England, which are both expected to leave their key rates unchanged.On the corporate front, Thursday will see another round of earnings announcements and sales updates from retailers.Kicking of the July sales announcements, Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) said its same-store sales rose 10%, with much of the increase due to inflation in gasoline prices and strengthening foreign currencies.
Among companies scheduled to report earnings, General Motors (GM, GMM.U.T) is expected to report a second-quarter profit of $1.18 a share on sales of $36.5 billion.CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) is seen posting earnings of 64 cents a share for the second quarter on revenue of $26.76 billion.Other likely movers Thursday include Zipcar Inc. (ZIP), which reported a smaller-than-expected loss late Wednesday, sending the stock up around 13% in after-hours trading.