WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks may move to the upside early in the session on
Thursday as trading resumes following the Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday. The
major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets,
with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.3 percent.

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.

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.

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.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a
mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index crept up
by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day.
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.

In commodities trading, 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.



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