(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stock futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday on better than expected durable goods order and weekly initial claims data.
At 8:31 am ET, Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures increased 1.10 points to 893.60. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 20 points to 8317. Nasdaq Composite Index futures gained 1.75 points to 1405.75.
According to Department of Commerce, orders for durable goods unexpectedly rose 1.9% in April. Economists on average had projected a rise of 0.5%.
A release by Department of Labor on Thursday showed number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 13,000 to 6623,000 in the week ending May 23. Economists expected the initial claim to fall to 628,000. The four-week average of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims, a less volatile gauge, declined by 3,000 to 626,750. Continuing claims for the week ending May 16 jumped 110,000 to a record 6.79 million.
Early on Thursday,
Costco Wholesale Corp. (
NASDAQ: COST) said that its fiscal third-quarter profit fell 29% to$209.6 million, or 48 cents a share, from $295.1 million, or 67 cents a share, in the prior year quarter. Revenue declined 5% to $15.81 billion from $16.61 billion.
H.J. Heinz Co. (
NYSE: HNZ) said that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income dropped to $175 million, or 55 cents a share, from $194 million, or 61 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue decreased to $2.5 billion from $2.7 billion.
Time Warner Inc. (
NYSE: TWX) on Thursday said that it would separate its AOL unit into a standalone company. However, before that separation can take place, Time Warner will buy the 5% of AOL owned by
Google (
NASDAQ: GOOG). Time Warner currently owns 95% of AOL.
Two US auto parts supplier
Visteon Corp. and
Metaldyne filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday amid slumping auto sales.
The largest U.S. toy-store chain Toys R Us Inc. announced on Thursday that it has acquired troubled high-end retailer FAO Schwarz.
On the front of economic data, new home sales data for the month of April is due for release at 10:00 am ET.
Meanwhile, OPEC decided to keep its production targets unchanged, oil ministers said on Thursday following a meeting in Vienna.
US stocks finished with losses on Wednesday as a steep drop in prices of US Treasury securities sparked economic fears.
European stocks were lower in afternoon trade. At 13:00 pm London time, the UK FTSE fell 52.11 points or 1.18% to 4,364.12. The German DAX and French CAC declined 1.23% and 1.15% respectively.
Asian stocks finished with gains. The Nikkei 225 rose 12.62 points or 0.13% to 9,451.39.
NYMEX Crude oil for July delivery climbed 2 cents to $63.46 a barrel in electronic trading.
Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.
