Futures Suggest Moderately Higher Open For Wall Street

(RTTNews) - The Labor Department's monthly jobs report and other economic announcements might be getting on attention Thursday.

In the Asian trading session, the dollar hovered around three-year lows, while gold was little changed. Oil prices fell nearly 1 percent.

Asian shares finished mostly up, while European shares are trading broadly up.

Initial signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open higher.

As of 8.15 am ET, the Dow futures were progressing 20.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were gaining 5.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 15.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished mostly higher on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 190.24 points or 0.9 percent to 20,393.13 and the S&P 500 climbed 29.41 points or 0.5 percent to 6,227.42. The narrower Dow edged down 10.52 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,484.42.

On the economic front, the Employment Situation for June will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 110,000, while it was up 139,000 in the prior month. The Unemployment rate is expected to be 4.3 percent, while it was up 4.2 percent in May. The private payrolls for June is projected to be up 100,000, while it was up 140,000 in the previous month. The average hourly earnings consensus is up 0.3 percent, while it was up 0.4 percent in the previous month. Average workweek is projected to be 34.4 hours, while it was up 34.3 in May.

The International Trade in Goods and Services for May is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $72.5 billion, while the deficit was $61.6 billion in April.

The Labor Department's Jobless Claims for the week will be revealed at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for initial claims is 240K, while it was up 236K in the prior week.

IHS Market's PMI Composite final for June will be published at 9.45 am ET. The flash index is 52.8. The consensus for Services Index is 53.1, while it was up 53.7 in May.

The Factory Orders for May will be released at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for growth of 8.1 percent, while it was down 3.7 percent in April.

The ISM Services Index for June is expected at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 50.5, while it was up 49.9 in the prior month.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Natural Gas Report for the week will be issued at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was up 96 bcf.

Three-year and Ten-year Treasury Note auctions will be held at 11.00 am ET.

Thirty-year Treasury Bond auctions will be held at 11.00 am ET.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week will be released at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 687 and the U.S. rig count was 547.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be announced at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the Level was at $6.662 trillion.

Asian shares ended mixed on Thursday.

China's Shanghai Composite index edged up by 0.18 percent to 3,461.15.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.63 percent to 24,069.94.

Japanese markets fluctuated. The Nikkei finished marginally higher at 39,785.90 while the broader Topix index settled 0.10 percent higher at 2,828.99.

Australian markets ended on a flat note.

European shares are trading mostly higher. CAC 40 of France is losing 9.46 points or 0.12 percent. DAX of Germany is gaining 53.85 points or 0.23 percent. FTSE 100 of England is adding 38.26 points or 0.44 percent. The Swiss Market Index is gaining 0.93 points or 0.01 percent.

Euro Stoxx 50 that provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is down 0.086 percent.