FX.co ★ Futures Pointing To Roughly Flat Open On Wall Street

As suggested by prominent U.S. index futures, the stock market is expected to remain fairly static at the start of trading on Thursday, subsequent to the significant rise observed towards the end of Wednesday's session. Investors may be adopting a cautious stance as they await Friday's report from the Commerce Department on personal income and spending; this report includes inflation readings favored by the Federal Reserve.

Although the inflation data may influence interest rate projections, traders will only be able to react to the report on the following Monday due to the stock markets being closed for Good Friday. Additionally, a discussion featuring Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to be held on Good Friday, addressing the Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy Conference of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

The marginal drop in initial U.S. unemployment benefit claims for the week ending March 23rd, as shown by a Labor Department report, didn't alter futures significantly. Furthermore, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy unexpectedly experienced higher growth than previously estimated in Q4 2023.

Following a late surge on Wednesday, most markets ended the day on a positive note with the Dow and the S&P 500 breaking their three-day losing streaks. Notably, both the Dow and the S&P 500, along with the Nasdaq, performed well.

A decrease in treasury yields may have partially fueled this strong performance in markets, as traders remain optimistic about interest rates in the wake of last week's Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. Despite keeping interest rates unchanged, Fed officials predicted three rate cuts this year.

Amidst the rising value of gold, gold stocks saw a notable surge, reaching their highest closing point in nearly three months. Moreover, interest-rate-sensitive utilities and commercial real estate stocks demonstrated robust performance, which also lifted the Dow Jones Utility Average and the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index.

In the meantime, crude oil futures are on the rise, while gold is strengthening its value in comparison to the U.S. dollar.

Asian stock markets yielded mixed results on Thursday, as they too are waiting for key U.S. inflation data and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's impending announcement on Friday. While the Australian market saw substantial gains, Japanese stocks underwent a significant downturn, with traders likely booking profits after recent market highs.Chinese stocks saw a positive movement with the Shanghai Composite Index increasing by 17.52 points or 0.6 percent, reaching 3,010.66. Similarly, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index grew by 148.58 points or 0.9 percent, settling at 16,541.42.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 Index climbed 94.63 points or 0.8 percent to 12,105.29, whereas South Korea's Kospi fell by 9.29 points or 0.3 percent to 2,745.82.

In the European market, there were modest gains in stocks on Thursday as we approached the long Easter holiday weekend. Major European markets are set to remain closed on Friday and Monday in observance of Easter.

In economic news, an unexpected decline was observed in German retail sales in February. Data from Destatis showed that retail sales in Germany fell by 1.9 percent from January, contradicting expectations of an increase of 0.3 percent. Year on year, retail sales decreased 2.7 percent in real terms, worse than the predicted 0.8 percent drop.

The British pound weakened against other currencies following dovish comments from the Bank of England’s Bailey about potential rate cuts.

The U.K. economy contracted in the fourth quarter, as was initially estimated, with the Gross domestic product experiencing an unrevised drop of 0.3 percent – a slight decrease from the 0.1 percent decline in the third quarter. This solidified the anticipated technical recession at the end of 2023. As a result, the economy witnessed a mere 0.1 percent growth in 2023, significantly weaker than the 4.3 percent expansion in 2022.

Among corporate news, British retailer JD Sports Fashion and French company Renault saw their shares surge. Sportswear retailer JD Sports expects their full-year profit before tax and adjusted items to align with their forecast of 915 million to 935 million pounds. Meanwhile, Renault sold 99.13 million shares back to Nissan, totaling about 358 million euros, following the latter's share buyback program announced on March 27.

Shares for Casino nosedived as the retailer announced the completion of its financial restructuring. Similarly, Stratec SE and IoT technology company Kontron saw a significant drop in their shares.

In the United States labor market news, first-time claims for unemployment benefits edged slightly lower in the week that ended on March 23rd, per a report from the Labor Department. The report showed that initial jobless claims fell to 210,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level of 212,000.

The Commerce Department's separate report revealed that the U.S. economy grew more than previously estimated in Q4 of 2023, showing a surge in real gross domestic product by 3.4 percent. The stronger than previously estimated growth primarily emanated from upward revisions to consumer spending and nonresidential fixed investment.

Later on, MNI Indicators will release its report on Chicago-area business activity in March and the National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release its report on pending home sales in February. The University of Michigan is also set to release its revised reading on U.S. consumer sentiment in March. Reports predict the consumer sentiment index for March to remain unchanged from the preliminary reading of 76.5.Stocks from the luxury home furnishings retailer, RH (RH), are experiencing a significant rise in pre-market trading. This uplift follows the company's less than anticipated fourth quarter revenue results and the encouraging prediction for 2024's revenue growth.

Estee Lauder (EL), a well-known cosmetics company, may also witness a boost in its stock value after Bank of America upgraded the rating of its shares from Neutral to Buy.

On the other hand, shares of Walgreens Boot Alliance (WBA) could potentially take a hit following the company's recent announcement of its fiscal second quarter results. Even though the results surpassed estimates, the pharmacy chain opted to narrow down its earnings forecast for the full year.