Stock Futures Dip as Jobless Claims Rise

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were pointing to a lower open Thursday, as the U.S. economy grew by 1.8% in the first quarter and initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose to 429,000.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down by 11 points, or 8 points below fair value, at 12,630. Futures for the S&P 500 were lower by 1 point, or 2 points below fair value, at 1350, and Nasdaq futures were lower by 4 points, or 5 points below fair value.

The Dow jumped by 96 points, or 0.8%, Wednesday after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. economy was improving at a "moderate" pace and that the central bank's overnight lending rate will likely stay at zero to 0.25% for a "couple of meetings." Bernanke also answered reporters' following the Federal Open Market Committee's monetary policy meeting.

The U.S. economy grew by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the Commerce Department's first read on first-quarter gross domestic product. The growth is down from 3.1% in 2010's fourth quarter and slightly above economists' expectations for an increase of 1.7% in the first quarter.

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose by 25,000 to 429,000 in the week ended April 23, according to the Labor Department's report. Economists had expected claims to fall to 390,000, from the prior week's initially reported level of 403,000, which was upwardly revised to 404,000.

The National Association of Realtors will release its pending-home sales index for March at 10 a.m. Wall Street expects the gauge to have increased 1.7%, after rising 2.1% in February, according to Briefing.com.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.4% while Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.6%. London's FTSE was declining 0.1% while the DAX in Frankfurt was adding 0.4%.

Exelon(EXC) agreed to buy rivalConstellation Energy(CEG) in an all-stock transaction for $38.59 a share, or $7.9 billion.