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U.S. stock index futures slipped early Thursday following data that included readings on August retail sales, regional manufacturing and weekly unemployment claims.
Investors were also digesting a tentative deal to avoid a nationwide railway strike that was announced earlier.
What’s happening
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
+0.24%
rose 40 points, or 0.1%, to 31288. -
Futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
+0.09%
dropped 3.5 points, or 0.1%, to 3960. -
Futures on the Nasdaq 100
NQ00,
-0.13%
decreased 35 points, or 0.3%, to 12190.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
rose 30 points, or 0.1%, to 31135, the S&P 500
SPX,
increased 13 points, or 0.34%, to 3946, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
gained 86 points, or 0.74%, to 11720.
What’s driving markets
The White House announced that a deal to avert a railway strike set for midnight was reached. The stocks of railroad operators including Union Pacific
UNP,
rose in premarket trade.
Wall Street had fretted such a strike could exacerbate inflation at a time when consumer prices already were rising at a clip of 8.3% year-over-year in August. But news of a deal hasn’t exactly bailed out stocks, which are still struggling to recover from a slump after Tuesday’s August consumer-price index data.
In U.S. data Thursday retail sales rose 0.3% in August as Americans spent more on new cars and trucks and went out to eat more, suggesting the economy grew at at a steady pace toward the end of the summer.
Meanwhile new jobless benefit claims fell by 5,000 to 213,000 in the week ended Sept. 10, the Labor Department said, suggesting the labor market remains healthy.
However, two regional gauges of manufacturing sentiment moved into slight contraction territory in September, according to data released Thursday.
Stocks in focus
Adobe Inc.
ADBE,
shares were falling more than 7% in Thursday’s premarket trading after the software company fell short with its revenue outlook for the current quarter and announced plans for a $20 billion merger deal.
Hear from Carl Icahn at the Best New Ideas in Money Festival on Sept. 21 and Sept. 22 in New York. The legendary trader will reveal his view on this year’s wild market ride.
