Wall Street Set To Open Positive

(RTTNews) - Initial jobless claims and leading economic indicators announcements might be the highlight on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping has scheduled a call on Friday. Trump on his second day of the state visit to the U.K. had discussion with British business leaders along with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Initial cues on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open higher.

As of 8.15 am ET, the Dow futures were progressing 225.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were up 49.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were gaining 270.25 points.

The U.S. major averages closed mixed on Wednesday. The Dow climbed 260.42 points or 0.6 percent to 46,018.32, the S&P 500 edged down 6.41 points or 0.1 percent to 6,600.35 and the Nasdaq fell 72.63 points or 0.3 percent to 22,261.33.

On the economic front, the Labor Department's Jobless Claims for the week will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 246K, while the initial claim were up 263K in the prior week.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for September will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for growth of 3.0, while it was down 0.3 in August.

The Leading Indicators for August will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for a decline of 0.1 percent, while it was down 0.1. percent in the prior month.

Treasury International Capital data for July will be issued at 4.00 pm ET. In the prior month, net long-term securities transactions were $150.8 billion.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be revealed at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the Level was up $6.606 trillion.

Two-year, 5-year and 7-year Treasury Note auctions will be held at 11.00 am ET.

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

Asian stocks ended mostly lower on Thursday. Chinese shares fell sharply. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index ended down 1.15 percent at 3,831.66.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.35 percent to 26,544.85.

Japanese markets rallied. The Nikkei average climbed 1.15 percent to 45,303.43. The broader Topix index settled 0.41 percent higher at 3,158.87.

Australian markets were down. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 ended 0.83 percent lower at 8,745.20. The broader All Ordinaries index dropped 0.70 percent to 9,030.90.