US stock futures edged higher on Thursday after better than expected economic data suggested that the worst may be over. Strong earnings from tech bellwether
Cisco also boosted sentiment.
At 8:31 am ET, Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures rose 8.90 points to 926.10. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures jumped 82 points to 8553. Nasdaq Composite Index futures advanced 3.25 points to 1433.
A release, by Department of Labor, on Thursday showed number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits fell by 34,000 to 601,000 in the week ending May 2. Economists expected jobless claims to rise to 635,000. The four-week average of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims, a less volatile gauge, decreased by 14,750 to 623,500. Continuing claims for the week ending April 25 jumped 125,250 to a record high of 6.21 million.
In a separate release, Labor Department said that productivity in the nonfarm business sector - output per hour worked - increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.8% in the first quarter.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:
WMT) said Thursday that its April same store sales rose 5% compared to average analyst estimates of 2.9%.
Early on Thursday, General Motors Corp. (NYSE:
GM) announced that its first quarter loss widened to $6 billion, or $9.78 a share, from a loss of $3.3 billion, or $5.80 a share in the year earlier period. On an adjusted basis, net loss totaled $9.66 a share compared to a year-ago loss of 67 cents a share. Revenue nearly halved to $22.4 billion from $42.4 billion.
Late on Wednesday, networking giant Cisco (NASDAQ:
CSCO) reported that fiscal third-quarter profit fell to $1.35 billion, or 23 cents a share, from $1.77 billion, or 29 cents a share, in the corresponding quarter a year ago. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 30 cents a share. Revenue declined to $8.16 billion from $9.79 billion.
Sunoco Inc. (NYSE:
SUN ) reported that it swung to a first-quarter profit of $12 million, or 10 cents a share, from a loss of $59 million, or 50 cents a share, in the year ago quarter. Revenue decreased to $6.44 billion from $12.81 billion.
US stocks rallied on Wednesday as investors drew a sigh of relief after stress test results indicated that most banks are healthier than thought.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank slashed interest rates by a quarter points to a record low of 1%. On the other hand the Bank of England surprisingly boosted a bond-purchasing program.
European stocks gained in afternoon trade. At 13:10 pm London time, the UK FTSE rose 113.76 points or 2.59% to 4,510.25. The German DAX and French CAC added 1.86% and 1.89% respectively.
Asian stocks finished solidly higher. The Nikkei 225 jumped 408.33 points or 4.55% to 9,385.70. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong advanced 383.32 points or 2.28% to 17,217.89.
NYMEX Crude oil for June delivery climbed as much as $1.73 or 3% to $58.07 a barrel.
Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.
