BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Initial cues from the U.S. Futures
Index on Thursday suggest that Wall Street might open moderately up.

Trading might be impacted by reaction to major economic announcements today,
especially the weekly jobless claims, industrial production and import and
export prices.

As of 8.10 am ET, the Dow futures were up 11.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were
adding 3.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 19.75 points.

The U.S. major averages gained at Wednesday's closing. The tech-heavy Nasdaq
surged 231.21 points or 1.4 percent to 16,742.39, the S&P 500 shot up 61.47
points or 1.2 percent to 5,308.15 and the Dow jumped 349.89 points or 0.9
percent to 39,908.00.

On the economic front, the Housing Starts and Permits data for April will be
issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 1.435 million, while it was up 1.321 in
the prior month.

The Jobless Claims for the week is expected at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is
220k, while it was up 231k in the prior week.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for May will be published at 8.30 am
ET. The consensus is 7.8, while it was up 15.5 in April.

The Import and Export Prices for April will be revealed at 8.30 am ET. The
consensus is 0.2 percent, while it was up 0.4 percent.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Natural Gas Report for the week
is expected at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was 79 bcf.

The Fed Balance for the week will be published at 4.30 pm ET. The prior month
level was deficit of $7.353 trillion.

Asian stocks rallied on Thursday. China's Shanghai Composite index finished
marginally higher at 3,122.40.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rallied 1.59 percent to 19,376.53.

Japanese markets climbed. The Nikkei average climbed 1.39 percent to 38,920.26
while the broader Topix index closed 0.24 percent higher at 2,737.54.

Australia's benchmark S&P ASX 200 jumped 1.65 percent to 7,881.30. The broader
All Ordinaries index added 1.61 percent to close at 8,150.10.



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