U.S. stock-index futures on Thursday were seeing muted action—though the tech sector looked to be perking up—as investors awaited a report on weekly jobless claims that is likely to show that more than one million Americans submitted claims for unemployment benefits amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, cases of coronavirus exceeded 12 million globally and the U.S.’s tally surpassed 3 million, even as reopening efforts in many states remained on track.
How are benchmarks performing?
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, -0.31% headed 78 points, or 0.3%, lower at 25,891; those for the S&P 500 index ES00, -0.12% dipped 4.15 points to reach 3,159.25, a fall of 0.1%; while Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00, +0.33% rose 33.75 points, or 0.3%, at 10,696.
On Wednesday, the Dow DJIA, +0.68% rose 177.10 points, or 0.7%, to end at 26,067.28, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.78% climbed 24.62 points, or 0.8%, to finish at 3,169.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.43% added 148.61 points, or 1.4%, closing at a 10,492.50 record, its 25th of the year.
What’s driving the market?
Updated data on the state of the labor market will be pored over by investors after a rally in technology and tech-related investments on Wednesday helped to pave the way for a fresh all-time high for the Nasdaq, amid swirling concerns about rising cases of coronavirus.
Economists polled by MarketWatch predict an additional 1.4 million new claims were filed in the week of June 28 to July 4. That estimate comes after initial jobless claims rose by 1.43 million last week in the seven-day period ended June 27. The reports thus far have revealed a decelerating trend since peaking last March, but still mark the 15th straight week of claims of at least a million.
“In any case, initial claims remain very high and the improvement since late March has almost come to a halt,” wrote analysts at UniCredit in a daily research note. “The re-imposition of restrictions in several states facing growing numbers of new COVID-19 cases could have already had an effect. Continuing claims for the week ending 27 June probably edged down, but uncertainty is high,” the analysts said.
The weekly report comes after the monthly nonfarm-payroll report, issued on Thursday due to the Fourth of July holiday on Friday, showed that U.S. economy regained 7.5 million jobs in May and June, partially recovering some of the 22 million jobs lost during the first two months of the pandemic.
Against that backdrop, infections derived from the novel strain of coronavirus haven’t abated. The U.S. reported more than 58,000 new cases on Wednesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, down slightly from the previous day. The country’s death toll stands at more than 132,309.
During a podcast with the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the foremost expert on infectious diseases in the U.S., said that we remain in the throes of the first wave of the deadly pandemic.
“We have never gotten out of the first wave,” he said. “So I wish we would stop talking about waves and just look at the reality of where we are right now. ”
Indeed, cases in California, Texas and Florida, hot spots in this resurgence, hit new daily record highs on Wednesday.
That said, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has encouraged DIS, +2.66% to proceed with its phased plan to reopen its theme parks starting on Thursday and through July 15. In New York, indoor shopping malls outside of New York City are eligible to reopen Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
Elsewhere in the world, Tokyo saw more than 200 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, marking a daily record and Australia returned to a six-week lockdown in Melbourne, one of the country’s most populous cities, as infections rise. Mexico also saw an increase in infections, as did Iran.
Which stocks are in focus?
- Shares of BBBY, +1.66% are in focus after the retailer said it would close 20% of stores.
- U.S.-listed shares of HEXO, -0.98% shot up in premarket trading Thursday, after the Canada-based cannabis company said it would start selling medical cannabis in Israel, marking the first time its medical cannabis products will be available outside of Canada.
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