BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The Weekly Jobless Claims and New Home
Sales might be the major focus on Thursday.
Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open
higher.

As of 8.05 am ET, the Dow futures were up 93.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were
adding 37.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 208.00 points.

The U.S. major averages on Wednesday ended in the red. 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.

On the economic front, The Jobless Claims for the week is scheduled at 8.30 am
ET. The consensus is 220k, while it was up 222k in the prior week.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for April will be issued at 8.30 am ET.
In the prior month the Index was up 0.15.

The PMI Composite Flash for May will be released at 9.45 am ET. The consensus
for manufacturing index is 50.1 and the servicess index is 51.4. In April, the
composite index was 51.3.

The Commerce and the Housing and Urban Development department's new Home Sales
for April is scheduled at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 675K, while it was up
693K in the prior month.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Natural Gas Report for the week
will be revealed at 10.30 am ET.

The Kansas City Fed Index for May will be issued at 11.00 am ET. In the prior
month, the index was negative 8.

Ten-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities or TIPS auction will be held
at 1.00 pm ET.

The Fed Balance sheet is expected at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the Level
was at $7.304 trillion.

Asian stocks ended Thursday's session mixed.

China's Shanghai Composite index fell 1.33 percent to 3,116.39 while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng index tumbled 1.7 percent to 18,868.71.

Japanese markets rallied. The Nikkei average climbed 1.26 percent to 39,103.22,
marking over one-month closing high. The broader Topix index settled 0.64
percent higher at 2,754.75.

Australian markets closed lower. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 dropped 0.46 percent
to 7,811.80 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended down 0.43 percent at
8,083.10.



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