The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a roughly flat open on Friday, with stocks poised to turn in another lacklustre performance after ending the previous session mixed. Traders may remain reluctant to make significant moves amid uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent strength.
The markets are also digesting the mixed batch of earnings news released by several big-name technology companies after the close of trading on Thursday.
After moving notably higher over the two previous sessions, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading day on Thursday. Despite the choppy trading on the day, the Dow still ended the session at a new record closing high.
The major averages eventually ended the day mixed. While the Dow rose 32.40 points or 0.2 percent to 20,100.91, the Nasdaq edged down 1.16 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,655.18 and the S&P 500 dipped 1.69 points or 0.1 percent to 2,296.68.
The lacklustre performance on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves after yesterday’s gains lifted the Dow above 20,000 for the first time.
Traders were also digesting the latest batch of earnings news from big-name companies such as AT&T (T), Ford (F), Comcast (CMCSA) and Caterpillar (CAT).
On the U.S. economic front, the Labour Department released a report showing a bigger than expected rebound in initial jobless claims in the week ended January 21st.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 259,000, an increase of 22,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 237,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 247,000.
A separate report from the Commerce Department showed a sharp pullback in new home sales in the month of December, with sales falling to a ten-month low.
The Commerce Department said new home sales tumbled by 10.4 percent to an annual rate of 536,000 in December after jumping by 4.7 percent to a revised rate of 598,000 in November.
Many of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, although substantial weakness was visible among gold stocks. Reflecting the weakness in the gold sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index slumped by 2.6 percent.
Oil service stocks also came under pressure despite a jump by the price of crude oil, resulting in a 2.3 percent decline by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index.
Meanwhile, airline stocks showed a strong move to the upside over the course of the session, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 1.3 percent.
Adedapo Adesanya