Global stocks trended sideways on Thursday, before the release of a slew of U.S. economic news, including closely watched weekly initial jobless claims.
U.S. index futures were down slightly with about two hours before markets open, suggesting that stocks will dip a little at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were down 8 points or less than 0.1 per cent. Futures for the broader S&P 500 were down 2 points or 0.1 per cent.
Both indexes rose substantially on Wednesday, driven largely by upbeat earnings from the likes of Apple Inc. and Boeing Co. At the same time, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its forecast for U.S. economic growth in 2012, while maintaining that it is willing and able to stimulate the economy, should growth disappoint.
On Thursday, investors will have a lot of economic information to digest. Initial jobless claims for the period ended last week are expected to retreat to 375,000 from 386,000 the previous week. Claims have been disappointingly high for a number of weeks, leading to some concerns that the U.S. employment situation is no longer improving -- though some commentators had blamed the Easter holiday for the setbacks. Thursday also brings the Chicago Fed's national activity index and pending home sales for March.
Meanwhile, it's another busy earnings day as well, as the first-quarter reporting season continues. Among U.S. companies, Exxon Mobil and United Parcel Service will release their results. In Canada, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan reported earnings of $491-million (U.S.) or 56 cents a share, down from $732-million last year. Analysts had been expecting better earnings of 63.5 cents a share.
Goldcorp Inc. reported its results on Wednesday evening, with earnings of $479-million or 51 cents a share, down from 81 cents a share last year.
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up less than 0.1 per cent in afternoon trading while Germany's DAX index fell 0.4 per cent. There, a reading on European business confidence fell more than expected. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 was essentially unchanged in overnight trading.
Commodity prices were mixed. Crude oil fell to $103.92 a barrel, down 0.2 per cent. Gold rose to $1,647 an ounce, up 0.3 per cent.
David Berman