Wall Street Aims To Open Broadly Up

(RTTNews) - Reports on weekly jobless claims, service sector activity and the U.S. trade deficit as well as Fed speeches might be the highlight on Thursday. Geopolitical developments are closely monitored by investors as Chinese President Xi Jinping had a meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Beijing after attending Chinese military parade marking the eight decades of end of world war II. This is the first official meeting between Chinese and North Korean leaders in the last six years.

Asian shares finished broadly higher, while European shares are trading mostly positive. Gold retreated after clocking a new high record in the previous session.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggested that Wall Street might open broadly up.

As of 7.50 am ET, the Dow futures were declining 13.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 9.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 38.00 points.

The U.S. major averages finished mostly up on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 218.10 points or 1.0 percent to 21,497.73 and the S&P 500 climbed 32.72 points or 0.5 percent to 6,448.26. The Dow, on the other hand, posted a modest loss, edging down 24.58 points or 0.1 percent to 45,271.23.

On the economic front, the International Trade in Goods and Services for July will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $70.2 billion, while the deficit in the prior month was $60.2 billion

The Labor Department's Jobless Claims for the week will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 232K, while it was up 229K in the prior week.

The Labor Department's Productivity and Costs for the second quarter is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 2.5 percent, while it was up 2.4 percent in the prior quarter.

The PMI Composite Final for August will be revealed at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is 55.4, while it was up 55.1 in the prior month.

The ISM Services Index for August will be issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 50.5, while it was up 50.1 in July.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Natural Gas Report for the week will be released at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was up 18 bcf. EIA's Petroleum Status Report for the week is expected at 12.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories were down 2.4 million barrels and the gasoline inventories were down 1.2 million barrels.

Ten-year Treasury Note Auction and 30-year Treasury Bond auction will be held at 11.00 am ET.

The Fed Balance Sheet will be released at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the Level was up $6.603 trillion.

New York Fed President John Williams will give keynote before an Economic Club of New York Signature Luncheon at 12.05 pm ET.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee will participate in moderated Q&A before mHub Industry Disruptor Series event at 7.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks rose broadly on Thursday. China's Shanghai Composite index fell 1.25 percent to 3,765.88. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 1.12 percent to 25,058.51.

Japanese markets rallied. The Nikkei average jumped 1.53 percent to 42,580.27 while the broader Topix index settled 1.03 percent higher at 3,080.17.

Australian markets snapped a four-day losing streak. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rallied 1 percent to 8,826.50. The broader All Ordinaries index gained 0.90 percent to close at 9,091.40.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index rose 0.45 percent to 13,133.20.