WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing
to a higher open on Thursday, with tech stocks likely to lead an early rally
following upbeat quarterly results from Nvidia (NVDA).

Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) are soaring by 7.0 percent in pre-market trading after
the AI darling reported better than expected fiscal first quarter results and
provided upbeat guidance.

Nvidia also announced a ten-for-one stock split of its common stock and
increased its quarterly cash dividend by 150 percent to $0.10 per share.

However, concerns about the outlook for interest rates may continue to hang over
the broader markets following yesterday's slightly hawkish Fed minutes.

With the minutes signaling rates are likely to remain higher for longer than
previously expected, the chances rates will be lower by September have fallen to
68.6 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Potentially adding to the rate concerns, the Labor Department released a report
this morning showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by
more than expected in the week ended May 18th.

Stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the trading session on
Wednesday before coming under pressure following the release of the minutes of
the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but ended
the day in the red after ending Tuesday's choppy trading session modestly
higher.

The Dow slid 201.95 points or 0.5 percent to 39,671.04, the S&P 500 fell 14.40
points or 0.3 percent to 5,307.01 and the Nasdaq dipped 31.08 points or 0.2
percent at 16,801.54.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as the Fed minutes suggested
officials expect to maintain interest rates at current levels longer than
previously thought.

The minutes of the April 30-May 1 meeting said participants highlighted
disappointing readings on inflation over the first quarter and indicators
pointing to strong economic momentum.

The participants subsequently assessed that it would take longer than previously
anticipated for them to gain 'greater confidence' inflation is moving
sustainably toward 2 percent.

With Fed officials repeatedly saying they need 'greater confidence' inflation is
slowing before they cut rates, the minutes said participants discussed
maintaining the current restrictive policy stance for longer.

While officials also discussed reducing policy restraint in the event of an
unexpected weakening in labor market conditions, various participants also
mentioned a willingness to raise rates further should risks to inflation
materialize in a way that such an action became appropriate.

'The investing world will have to wait at least another month to hear anything
about rate cuts but the kicker in this report was the willingness of some
participants to restrict policy further which apparently according to the
markets action was quite the surprise,' said Alex McGrath, Chief Investment
Officer for NorthEnd Private Wealth.

Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, as traders seemed
reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of quarterly results
from Nvidia.

Gold stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, resulting in a
3.7 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The sell-off by gold
stocks came amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal.

A sharp decline by the price of crude oil also contributed to significant
weakness among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent plunge by the
Philadelphia Oil Service Index.

Housing stocks also saw considerable weakness following the release of a report
unexpectedly showing a continued decrease by existing home sales in August, with
the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index tumbled by 2.4 percent.

Brokerage, oil producer and steel stocks also showed notable moves to the
downside, while biotechnology and semiconductor stocks bucked the downtrend.

Commodity, Currency Markets

Crude oil futures are climbing $0.71 to $78.28 a barrel after tumbling $1.09 to
$77.57 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after plunging $33 to $2,392.90 an
ounce in the previous session, gold futures are slumping $22.70 to $2,370.20 an
ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 156.70 yen versus the
156.80 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the
euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0847 compared to yesterday's $1.0823.

Asia

Asian stocks ended Thursday's session mixed as rate worries lingered and China
announced immediate military drills around Taiwan, marking a concerning
escalation in the tensions between Taiwan and China, which has long claimed
sovereignty over the island.

Hawkish minutes from the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting boosted the
dollar, which hovered near a one-week high following its best day this month
against major peers.

Gold pulled back further from record highs after the Fed meeting minutes
revealed discussions of a further tightening of interest rates if inflation
remained sticky.

Oil prices declined for a fourth straight session on bearish inventory data and
persistent concerns over higher for longer U.S. interest rates.

China's Shanghai Composite Index slumped 1.3 percent to 3,116.39, while Hong
Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.7 percent to 18,868.71.

Japanese markets rallied as strong financial results from U.S. tech giant Nvidia
boosted technology stocks. The Nikkei 225 Index jumped 1.3 percent to 39,103.22,
marking an over one-month closing high. The broader Topix Index settled 0.6
percent higher at 2,754.75.

Advantest surged 5.4 percent, SoftBank Corp. jumped 4.3 percent and Tokyo
Electron added 1.8 percent.

Seoul stocks recovered from an early slide to end on a flat note. The Kospi
finished marginally lower at 2,721.81 as the Bank of Korea held its key policy
rate steady amid sticky inflation and raised its 2024 GDP growth forecast.

Australian markets closed lower as rate worries led investors to book profits in
commodity-related stocks. Information technology stocks outperformed, with Xero
surging 8.7 percent after the accounting software giant reported better than
expected FY24 profits.

The benchmark S&P ASX 200 Index dropped 0.5 percent to 7,811.80, while the
broader All Ordinaries Index ended down 0.4 percent at 8,083.10.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P NZX-50 Index climbed 0.7 percent
to 11,809.48 after retail sales data for the first quarter beat estimates.

Europe

European stocks are mostly higher on Thursday after British Prime Minister Rishi
Sunak called a general election for July 4 and a survey showed business activity
in the euro zone accelerated in May.

The HCOB Flash Eurozone purchasing managers' index (PMI) published by S&P Global
improved to 52.3 from 51.7 in April. That was the highest reading in 12 months.

While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is just above the unchanged line, the German DAX
Index is up by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent.

Nvidia's shares jumped in Frankfurt after record sales of artificial
intelligence chips sent the company's revenue soaring 262 percent in the past
quarter.

German ticketing firm CTS Eventim has also shown a substantial move to the
upside after its first quarter EBITDA beat forecasts.

Gerresheimer has also surged. The packaging and medical equipment maker
Gerresheimer has signed a purchase agreement for acquiring Blitz LuxCo Sarl.

Merck KGaA, a leading science and technology company, was marginally higher
after it agreed to a $600m deal to buy life science company Mirus Bio.

Shares of Wizz Air Holdings have also soared after the low-cost airline returned
to a profit in fiscal year 2024.

Hargreaves Lansdown has also spiked after the investment platform rejected a
surprise takeover offer from a group of private equity buyers.

Meanwhile, Embracer shares have plummeted. The Swedish-based gaming conglomerate
said its CFO and deputy CEO Johan Ekström would step down after five years for
personal reasons.

National Grid shares have also plunged in London after the electricity and gas
utility unveiled plans to raise about 7 billion pounds ($8.9 billion) through a
fully underwritten rights issue of 1.09 billion new shares.

Norwegian telecoms company Telenor ASA has declined on news that Sigve Brekke
will be stepping down as President & CEO of the company on December 1.

U.S. Economic Reports

A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims
for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended May
18th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slid to 215,000, a decrease of
8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 223,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 220,000 from the 222,000
originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up
to 219,750, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average of
218,000.

At 10 am ET, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on new home
sales in the month of April. Economists expect new home sales to pull back by
1.9 percent to an annual rate of 680,000 in April after soaring by 8.8 percent
to a rate of 693,000 in March.

The Treasury Department is scheduled to announce the details of this month's
auctions of two-year, five-year and seven-year notes at 1 pm ET.

At 3 pm ET, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic is due to
participate in a virtual question-and-answer session with students in MBA
macroeconomic class at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Stocks In Focus

Shares of Snowflake (SNOW) are seeing significant pre-market strength after the
cloud computing company reported better than expected fiscal first quarter
revenues and provided upbeat guidance.

Chemical giant DuPont (DD) is also moving sharply higher in pre-market trading
after announcing plans to separate into three distinct, publicly traded
companies.

On the other hand, shares of VF Corp. (VFC) are likely to see initial weakness
after the apparel and footwear company founded reported an unexpected fiscal
fourth quarter loss on weaker than expected revenues.

Concert giant Live Nation (LYV) may also come under pressure after a report from
Bloomberg said the Justice Department may file an antitrust complaint against
the company as soon as next month.



Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved

Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX