Stock Futures in U.S. Edge Lower
Updated from 8 a.m. EDT
Stock index futures were edging lower ahead of the open Thursday, despite another decline in crude prices and economic data that was in line with expectations.
S&P 500
futures were losing 4 points to 1387 and were nearly 4 points below fair value. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 were off 5 points at 2000 and were roughly 3 points under fair value.
Last time out, the broad indices went higher in the final hour to close out a choppy, light-volume session. At the end of the day, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
rose 47 points to 12,594, and the S&P 500 ended up 5 points at 1391. The
Nasdaq Composite
tacked on 5 points to 2487.
The new day saw commodities backing off a bit, with crude recently losing $1.15 at $129.88 a barrel. Gold futures shed $8.10 to $892.40 an ounce. The U.S. dollar climbed 0.4% against both the euro and the yen.
Another main point of focus was the Commerce Department's second report on U.S. gross domestic product for the first quarter. The initial reading indicated that GDP grew 0.6% from January through March, but the revision showed a 0.9% increase, matching analysts' forecast.
Separately, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose to 372,000, slightly ahead of the 370,000 estimate.
On the corporate side,
Sears Holdings
(SHLD)
swung to a surprise loss in the fiscal first quarter. Excluding items, the retailer lost 53 cents a share on dwindling revenue of $11.07 billion. Sears, which operates its namesake chain as well as Kmart, also added $500 million to its stock-buyback authorization.
Big-box discount retailer
Costco
(COST) - Get Report
, meanwhile, said its earnings soared by nearly one-third to $295.1 million compared with a year earlier, when the company's bottom line was weighed down by a hefty charge. Costco topped analyst estimates for earnings and revenue.
Treasury prices were falling. The 10-year note was down 12/32 in price to yield 4.05%, and the 30-year bond was off 13/32 in price, yielding 4.72%.
The major overseas markets were mainly on the rise. In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 surged 3% overnight, and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong climbed 0.6%. As for European exchanges, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.3%, and Germany's Xetra Dax ticked up 0.1%. The Paris Cac was better by 0.2%.