Futures Pointing To Mixed Open On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session sharply higher, the major U.S. stock indexes may move in opposite directions in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a mixed open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 0.7 percent but the Nasdaq 100 futures down by 0.8 percent.

Lingering concerns about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence trade may weigh on the tech-heavy Nasdaq in early trading.

Following Democrats' takeover of both houses of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections, some traders are worried about the possibility of tighter AI regulation.

"Despite yesterday's relief rally on Wall Street, investors remain cautious about elevated technology valuations and whether substantial AI spending can generate sufficient returns," said Daniela Hathorn, Senior Market Analyst at Capital.com.

Meanwhile, stocks outside of the tech sector may continue to benefit from relief over President Donald Trump's acceptance of the election results and his purported willingness to work with Democrats.

Financial giants Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and American Express (AXP) are seeing notable pre-market strength and may contribute to a continued advance by the Dow.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Economists currently expect employment to increase by 62,000 jobs in October after rising by 29,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.2 percent.

With the release of the monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing an unexpected decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended October 31st.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 189,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 195,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 196,000 from the 194,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the unexpected dip, jobless claims matched the multi-decade low of 189,000 set in the week ended July 18th.

Following the mixed performances seen in the two previous sessions, the major U.S. stock indexes all showed significant moves to the upside. The Dow showed a particularly strong upward move, reaching a two-month closing high.

The major averages gave back some ground going into the end of the day but remained sharply higher. The Dow surged 1,569.40 points or 3 percent to 53,356.12, the S&P 500 jumped 119.70 points or 1.6 percent to 7,688.62 and the Nasdaq shot up 364.50 points or 1.4 percent to 25,736.51.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in yet another mixed performance on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.8 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index soared by 3.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.8 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.7 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are jumping $1.35 to $89.47 a barrel after diving $7.97 to $88.12 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after spiking $132.60 to $4,073 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are surging $55.20 to $4,128.20 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 158.47 yen versus the 158.42 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1215 compared to yesterday's $1.1227.