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Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. market indexes edged higher early Thursday as investors looked to add to Wall Street’s robust gains so far this week.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials continued on their roll, gaining 144 points, or 0.6%, early Thursday, to 25,678.
Futures for the S&P 500 gained 1.5 points, or 0.1%, to 3,037.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite slipped 86.5 points, or 0.9%, to 9,346.
The S&P 500 has improved 2.7%, the NASDAQ 0.9%, and the Dow 4.4% since the start of the holiday-shortened week. The Dow is on track for its best week since the week ended April 8.
Equity of companies that stand to benefit the most under reopenings, such as the airlines and retailers, led the major indexes higher Tuesday and Wednesday. Kohl’s, Nordstrom and Gap all rose at least 14% on Wednesday while Delta Airlines rose 2.6%, while American took on 7.5%, Alaska picked up 2% and United rose 3.8%.
Meanwhile, those stocks that outperformed as stay-at-home orders went into effect in March have lagged in recent sessions. Zoom Video dropped 1.2%; Shopify fell 2.3% Wednesday, while Amazon lost 0.6%,and Teladoc Health fell 1.1%.
The Department of Labor is scheduled to release the latest update to initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday morning. Though economists polled by Dow Jones expect the government to announce yet another deceleration in the pace of claims, the consensus estimate predicts another 2.05 million Americans filed for insurance during the week ended May 23.
Gains were kept in check after China’s National People’s Congress approved a national security bill for Hong Kong. The bill will bypass Hong Kong’s legislature, raising concerns over the longevity of Hong Kong’s “one party, two systems” principle, which allows additional freedoms mainland China does not have.
Overseas, in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 2.3%, Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Sang index retreated 0.7%.
Oil prices sank 25 cents to $32.56 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices took on $12.00 to $1,738.80 U.S. an ounce.
