Futures Pointing To Roughly Flat Open On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - The major U.S. Index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Thursday, with stocks likely to continue experiencing choppy trading after ending the previous session mixed.

Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

The report, which is expected to show employment jumped by 88,000 jobs in July after climbing by 57,000 jobs in June, could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.

Ahead of the release of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing a slight uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 1st.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims inched up to 199,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 198,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 202,000 from the 197,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, a slump by shares of SanDisk (SNDK) may weigh on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, with the memory chip giant plunging by 10 percent in pre-market trading.

The steep drop by SanDisk comes after the company reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results but provided disappointing guidance.

Stocks extended their recent upward move in early trading on Wednesday but came under pressure over the course of the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 sliding into negative territory.

The major averages saw further downside going into the end of the day. While the Dow remained positive, climbing 263.24 points or 0.5 percent to 54,349.12, the S&P 500 dipped 12.97 points or 0.2 percent at 7,723.55 and the Nasdaq slid 221.55 points or 0.8 percent to 26,363.44.

The downturn by the markets as the day progressed may have reflected profit taking following a four-day winning streak, which saw the Dow and S&P 500 reach new record highs.

Lingering concerns about AI spending may also have generated selling pressure after SpaceX (SPCX) reported its first quarterly results as a public company.

While SpaceX reported better than expected second quarter revenues, the rocket company's stock plunged by 13.6 percent as the company also reported a spike in capital spending.

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) also tumbled by 7 percent on the day despite reporting better than expected second quarter results.

Meanwhile, the narrower Dow held on to some of its early gains due in part to sharp increase by shares of Disney (DIS). Disney jumped by 3.7 percent percent after the entertainment giant reported better than expected fiscal third quarter earnings.

Dow components Amgen (AMGN) and Nvidia (NVDA) also posted significant gains, surging by 4.6 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.

In U.S. economic news, payroll processor ADP released a report on Wednesday showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by less than expected in the month of July.

The report said private sector employment rose by 44,000 jobs in July after climbing by a downwardly revised 95,000 jobs in June.

Economists had expected private sector employment to grow by 75,000 jobs compared to the addition of 98,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Energy stocks showed a significant move to the downside over the course of the session amid a continued decrease by the price of crude oil.

Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the NYSE Arca Oil Index and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index plunged by 3 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

Considerable weakness was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 2.5 slump by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

On the other hand, gold stocks moved sharply higher along with the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 7.6 percent to its best closing level in well over a month.

Commodity, Currency Markets

Crude oil futures are jumping $1.09 to $76.31 a barrel after falling $0.55 to $75.22 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after soaring $152.60 to $4,305.20 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are climbing $24.30 to $4,329.50 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 157.90 yen versus the 157.74 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1541 compared to yesterday's $1.1551.

Asia

Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday as chip stocks faced selling pressure following a sharp pullback in U.S. semiconductor and technology stocks overnight.

Brent crude futures held steady around $79 a barrel after the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed they had fired ballistic missiles towards a Saudi oil tanker on the Red Sea off the Saudi Port of Yanbu, underscoring ongoing risks to regional shipping.

Gold inched up to $4,253 an ounce, rising for a fourth straight session and hovering near a seven-week high, driven by softer U.S. labor market data released overnight, a weaker dollar and lower Treasury yields.

After U.S. private-sector hiring missed expectations in July and a few Fed officials advocated for some sort of monetary policy tightening to get inflation back to the target, investors looked ahead to the release of Friday's all-important nonfarm payrolls report for additional clues on the economic and rate outlook.

China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6 percent to 3,900.35 as higher gold prices boosted bullion-related shares.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped 1.5 percent to 25,530.28 as shares of major insurers and banks declined following reports that mainland Chinese tax authorities have collected personal income tax on returns from offshore insurance policies.

Japanese markets ended lower as a sell-off in chip and AI-linked stocks overshadowed signs of eased tensions in the Middle East. The Nikkei 225 Index dropped 0.9 percent to 65,683.26, while the broader Topix Index settled 0.2 percent higher at 4,055.85.

Kioxia Holdings slumped 10.2 percent after SanDisk's guidance for the September quarter missed Wall Street's high expectations. Advantest, SoftBank and Tokyo Electron declined 2-3 percent.

The yen jumped nearly 3 percent to a two-month high against the dollar following recent rare joint U.S.-Japan currency intervention.

Seoul stocks nosedived as tech shares lost ground on concerns over profitability of artificial intelligence (AI) spending. The Kospi Index plunged 4.6 percent to 6,296.38 after rising 1.6 percent and 3.8 percent in the previous two sessions.

Samsung Electronics fell 6.3 percent and SK Hynix plummeted 10.4 percent on doubts about profitability of large-scale investment in AI infrastructure.

Australian markets advanced to reach a new record high on hopes for a U.S.-Iran deal. Mining stocks topped the gainers list as copper prices hit a three-month high.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.5 percent to 9,271.60, while the broader All Ordinaries Index closed half a percent higher at 9,452.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 Index slipped 0.3 percent to 13,958.06, snapping a three-day winning streak.

Europe

European stocks hit new record highs on Thursday, with resilient company results, hopes for a U.S.-Iran deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and solid German data helping underpin sentiment.

German factory orders increased 3.1 percent on a monthly basis in June, faster than the revised 0.3 percent rise in May and economists' forecast of 0.5 percent, according to data from Destatis. On a yearly basis, growth in new orders accelerated to 6.5 percent from 4.5 percent in May.

On the geopolitical front, Iran said it is in the final stages of drafting an agreement with Oman on new commercial shipping arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz but denied the U.S. was involved in the negotiations.

While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are both up by 0.2 percent.

West-Asia focused oil & gas explorer Tullow Oil plunged 5.3 percent in London on concerns over the unchanged debt level.

Wizz Air tumbled 1 percent as the budget airline reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly net loss.

WPP shares skyrocketed 23 percent after the world's largest advertising group posted better-than-expected first-half profits and margins.

Homebuilder Persimmon advanced 4 percent. The company said it expects annual home deliveries to be at the top of its prior forecast range.

Outsourcing firm Serco soared 6 percent after reporting higher first-half underlying profit and increasing the size of its share buyback program.

German healthcare firm Fresenius advanced 1.6 percent after delivering strong second-quarter results and lifting its 2026 outlook.

SGL Carbon soared 5 percent. The maker of products from carbon reported a profit in its second quarter, compared to prior year's loss.

Lender Commerzbank rose 1.2 percent after reporting record performance across key financial metrics in its first-half 2026 results.

Nordex gained 2.5 percent. The wind turbine manufacturer said it has secured an order from Turkerler Holding to supply and install wind turbines with a total capacity of about 525 MW.

Chemical and consumer goods maker Henkel surged 4.6 percent after delivering strong first-half results and lifting its 2026 organic growth outlook.

Deutsche Telekom climbed nearly 6 percent. The phone carrier expanded its 2026 share buyback program by as much as €3 billion ($3.5 billion).

Industrial giant Siemens plummeted 5 percent after its profit outlook fell short of expectations.

Chemicals and pharmaceuticals group Merck gained 1.7 percent after lifting its full-year earnings and sales outlook.

Swiss telecoms group Swisscom surged 4.3 percent. The company confirmed its 2026 revenue forecast after reporting solid second-quarter results.

Staffing company Adecco shed 3 percent after posting disappointing gross margin and cash flow from operations in its second-quarter results.

Italy's Banco BPM rallied 5.3 percent after upgrading its 2026 profit outlook.

U.S. Economic News

A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits crept slightly higher in the week ended August 1st.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims inched up to 199,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 198,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 202,000 from the 197,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, the report said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 198,750, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 203,250.