Wall Street Targets To Open Significantly Up

(RTTNews) - Major U.S. economic announcements might get attention on Thursday. Early trends in U.S. index futures suggest a positive open for Wall Street, as geopolitical tensions begin to ease.

In the Asian trading session, gold was little changed at $4,833 an ounce. The U.S. dollar remained intact. Oil prices traded lower.

As of 7.40 am ET, the Dow futures were gaining 165.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were progressing 38.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 217.75 points.

The U.S. major averages gained at the close on Tuesday. The Dow surged 588.64 points or 1.2 percent to 49,077.23, the Nasdaq shot up 270.50 points or 1.2 percent to 23,224.82 and the S&P 500 jumped 78.76 points or 1.2 percent to 6,875.62.

On the economic front, the GDP for the third quarter will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 4.3 percent, while it was up 4.3 percent in the prior quarter.

The Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 205K, while it was up 198K in the prior week.

The Personal Income and Outlays for October will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus for personal income is 0.3 percent. The Personal Income and Outlays for November is expected at 10.00 am ET. The personal income consensus is 0.5 percent.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Natural Gas Report for the week will be revealed at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was down 71 bcf.

The six-month Treasury bill auction will be released at 11.00 am ET.

Two-year, five-year and seven-year Treasury Note auction will be held at 11.00 am ET.

The Kansas City Fed Manufacturing index for January will be held at 11.00 am ET. In the prior month, the Level was at 1.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Petroleum Status Report for the week is scheduled at 12.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories were up 3.4 million barrels, while gasoline inventories were up 9.00 million barrels.

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

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be issued at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the Level was up $6.582 trillion.

Asian stocks advanced on Thursday. China's Shanghai Composite index ended up 0.14 percent at 4,122.58. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished 0.17 percent higher at 26,629.96.

Japanese markets rallied. The Nikkei average soared 1.73 percent to 53,688.89. The broader Topix index rose 0.74 percent to 3,616.38.

Australian markets were up. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.75 percent to 8,848.70 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.70 percent higher at 9,172.50.