U.S. Stocks May Move To The Upside In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - After ending yesterday's trading little changed, stocks may move to the upside in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.3 percent.

The futures remained in positive territory following the release of a slew of U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing an unexpected decrease by initial jobless claims in the week ended June 21st.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dipped to 236,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level of 246,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 245,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods spiked by much more than expected in the month of May.

The report said durable goods orders soared by 16.4 percent in May after tumbling by a revised 6.6 percent in April.

Economists had expected durable goods orders to surge by 8.5 percent compared to the 6.3 percent slump that had been reported for the previous month.

Excluding a substantial increase in orders for transportation equipment, durable orders climbed by 0.5 percent in May after coming in unchanged in April. Ex-transportation orders were expected to come in flat.

Meanwhile, revised data released by the Commerce Department showed the U.S. economy by more than previously estimated in the first quarter of 2025.

The Commerce Department said real gross domestic product fell by 0.5 percent in the first quarter compared to the previously reported 0.2 percent dip. Economists had expected the decrease by GDP to be unrevised.

The bigger than previously estimated decline primarily reflecting downward revisions to consumer spending and exports that were partly offset by a downward revision to imports.

Shortly after the start of trading, the National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release its report on pending home sales in the month of May. Pending home sales are expected to dip by 0.3 percent in May after plunging by 6.3 percent in April.

Stocks initially extended the rally seen to start the week early in the session on Wednesday before giving back ground over the course of the trading day. The major averages pulled back off their early highs, eventually ending the day narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 61.02 points or 0.3 percent to a new four-month closing high of 19,973.55, the S&P 500 edge down 0.02 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,092.16 and the Dow slipped 106.59 points or 0.3 percent to 42,982.43.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.7 percent, while South Korea's Kospi slid by 0.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.2 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are rising $0.32 to $65.24 a barrel after climbing $0.55 to $64.92 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after inching up $9.20 to $3,343.10 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are edging up $2.90 to $3,346 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 144.34 yen versus the 145.24 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1706 compared to yesterday's $1.1659.