WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing
to a higher open on Thursday, with stocks likely to move the upside as trading
resumes following the Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday.

A notable advance by shares of Nvidia (NVDA) may contribute to early strength on
Wall Street, as the AI darling is surging by 3.7 percent in pre-market trading.

Nvidia shot up by 3.5 percent during trading on Tuesday, surpassing Microsoft
(MSFT) as the world's most valuable public company.

The futures remained positive after the Labor Department released a report
showing a modest pullback by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in
the week ended June 15th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dipped to 238,000, a decrease
of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 243,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 235,000 from the 242,000
originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, a separate report released by the Commerce Department unexpectedly
showed a steep drop in new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of
May.

Following the strong upward move seen over the course of Monday's session,
stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Tuesday.
Despite the choppy trading, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq once again reached new
record closing highs.

The major averages all finished the day modestly higher. The S&P 500 climbed
13.80 points or 0.2 percent to 5,487.03, the Dow rose 56.76 points or 0.2
percent to 38,834.86 and the Nasdaq inched up 5.21 points or less than a tenth
of a percent to 17,862.23.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came following the release of a mixed batch of
U.S. economic data, with reports on retail sales and industrial production
telling two separate stories.

The Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales crept up by 0.1
percent in May after dipping by a revised 0.2 percent in April.

Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the
unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.

Excluding an increase in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales
edged down by 0.1 percent in May after slipping by a revised 0.1 percent in
April.

Economists had expected ex-auto sales to climb by 0.2 percent, matching the
increase originally reported for the previous month.

'Retail sales came in really light this morning and while that may be good news
for inflation hawks, it could be the beginning of a slowdown in growth, which
would hurt a lot more than a couple of interest rate cuts would help,' said
Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve released a separate report showing industrial
production increased by much more than expected in the month of May.

The Fed said industrial production jumped by 0.9 percent in May after coming in
unchanged in April. Economists had expected industrial production to rise by 0.3
percent.

While most of the major sectors showed only modest moves, gold stocks saw
considerable strength amid an increase by the price of the precious metal,
driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 1.5 percent.

Significant strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, with the
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbing by 1.4 percent to a record closing
high.

Banking and computer hardware stocks also saw some strength on the day, while
housing stocks saw notable weakness, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector
Index down by 1.6 percent.

Commodity, Currency Markets

Crude oil futures are inching up $0.06 to $81.63 a barrel after jumping $1.24 to
$81.57 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, after climbing $17.90 to $2,346.90 an
ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $6.30 to $2,353.20 an
ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 158.44 yen versus the
158.09 yen it fetched on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at
$1.0721 compared to yesterday's $1.0744.

Asia

Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday as France's political crisis fueled jitters
and investors look ahead to a slew of central bank decisions.

The dollar index held steady in Asian trading, while gold and oil prices were
higher in the wake of rising geopolitical tensions in Europe and the Middle
East.

Chinese markets ended modestly lower as the People's Bank of China left
benchmark lending rates unchanged at a monthly fixing and the central bank
governor warned of weaker credit growth.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.4 percent to 3,005.44 on
concerns about a slowing property market. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.5
percent to 18,335.32, dragged down by financial and tech stocks.

Japanese shares ended slightly higher, led by chip-related stocks, with
Advantest surging 3.7 percent. The Nikkei 225 Index reversed early losses to
finish 0.2 percent higher at 38,633.02, while the broader Topix Index settled
0.1 percent lower at 2,725.54.

The yen fluctuated following a five-session drop as data showed Japanese exports
rose for a sixth straight month in May.

Seoul stocks eked out modest gains to end higher for a third day running. The
Kospi rose 0.4 percent to 2,807.63 - exceeding 2,800 points for the first time
in about 2-1/2 years amid gains in the tech sector.

Australian markets ended on a flat note amid diminished hopes for early rate
cuts from the country's central bank.

Namoi Cotton tumbled 4.3 percent after the competition watchdog raised concerns
over Olam Agri's proposed acquisition of the company.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 Index jumped 0.9 percent
to 11,771.81 after data showed the nation's economy exited a recession with
modest expansion in the first quarter.

Europe

European stocks have moved mostly higher on Thursday as the Bank of England
retained its key policy rate for the seventh straight session on Thursday.

The Monetary Policy Committee decided to hold the Bank Rate at 5.25 percent
again in a split vote. The current bank rate is the highest since early 2008.

Elsewhere, the Swiss National Bank delivered another interest rate cut, reducing
its policy rate by 25 basis points to 1.25 percent, as expected by two-thirds of
analysts. Norway's central bank held its key policy rate at 4.5 percent as
expected.

While the French CAC 40 Index has advanced by 0.8 percent, the German DAX Index
is up by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.3 percent.

Euro zone government bond yields rose as France prepares to sell bonds for the
first time since President Emmanuel Macron called for a snap election.

Technology stocks topped the gainers list, with ASM International surging after
Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock's rating to 'overweight' from 'equal weight.

Germany's MorphoSys has also climbed after it has entered into a delisting
agreement with Novartis BidCo AG and Novartis AG upon closing the acquisition by
Novartis in May this year.

Nordex, a provider of wind turbine systems, has also moved to the upside after
securing orders for about 172 MW from various customers.

Vallourec, a maker of tubular solutions and pipelines for energy industries, has
also gained in Paris after it extended a 2019 contract originally worth around
$900 million with the National Oil Company of Abu Dhabi for two years.

Technip Energies has also rallied. The technology company focused on energy and
chemical industries said that it has bagged a significant contract from Indian
Oil Corporation Limited.

Investment platform CMC Markets has also soared after it reported a 52 percent
jump in annual profit and forecast higher operating income for fiscal 2025.

Meanwhile, food group Danone has slumped after announcing it is targeting
like-for-like sales growth of 3-5 percent for the 2025 to 2028 period.

Tate & Lyle has also tumbled after the British food ingredients maker agreed to
acquire nature-based ingredients provider CP Kelco for $1.8 billion.

U.S. Economic Reports

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits saw a modest pullback in the
week ended June 15th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on
Thursday.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dipped to 238,000, a decrease
of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 243,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to fall to 235,000 from the 242,000
originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average rose to
232,750, an increase of 5,500 from the previous week's revised average of
227,250.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday unexpectedly
showed a steep drop in new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of
May.

The Commerce Department said housing starts plunged by 5.5 percent to an annual
rate of 1.277 million in May after surging by 4.1 percent to a revised rate of
1.352 million in April.

Economists had expected housing starts to climb by 0.7 percent to an annual rate
of 1.370 million from the 1.360 million originally reported for the previous
month.

The report also said building permits slumped by 3.8 percent to an annual rate
of 1.386 million in May after tumbling by 3.0 percent to a rate of 1.440 million
in April.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to
increase by 0.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.450 million.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia also released a report on Thursday
showing an unexpected slowdown in the pace of growth by regional manufacturing
activity in the month of June.

The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity fell to 1.3
in June from 4.5 in May, although a positive reading still indicates growth.
Economists had expected the index to come in inch up to 5.0.

Looking ahead, the Philly Fed said most future activity indicators remained
positive but suggest less widespread expectations for overall growth over the
next six months.

At 11 am ET, the Energy Information Administration is due to release its report
on oil inventories in the week ended June 14th.

The Treasury Department is also scheduled to announce the details of this
month's auctions of two-year, five-year and seven-year notes at 11 am ET.

At 4 pm ET, Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin is due to speak
before the Risk Management Association.

San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly is scheduled to participate in
a panel on 'The Transformative Power of AI: How is Technology Changing Our
Lives?' in coordination with Syracuse University and the Maxwell School of
Citizenship and Public Affairs at 10:15 pm ET.



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