(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stock futures rose on Thursday after a government release showed that initial claims fell 26,000 to 550,00 in the week ending September 5.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 8 points to 9500. The Nasdaq Composite futures gained 3 points to 1669.
A release by Department of Labor on Thursday showed number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits fell 26,000 to 550,00 in the week ending September 5. Economists expected jobless claims to drop to 560,000. The four-week average of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims, a less volatile gauge, decreased 2,750 to 500,000. Continuing claims for the week ending August 29 dropped 37,750,000 to 618 million.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the U.S. trade deficit widened by 16.3% in July to $32.0 billion.
Monsanto Co (NYSE:
MON), the world's biggest seed company, affirmed on Thursday that 2009 ongoing earnings would come in at the low end of itspreviously announced range of $4.40 to $4.50, for the year ended August 31.
Late on Wednesday, Texas Instruments (NYSE:
TXN) hiked its revenue and earnings guidance. The company said it now expects to report revenue in the range of $2.73 billion to $2.87 billion, compared to prior forecast in the range of $2.5 billion to $2.8 billion. The company also said that it now expects earnings in the range of 37 cents a share to 41 cents a share, compared with previous forecast in the range of 29 cents a share to 39 cents a share.
Meanwhile, energy giant Chevron's (NYSE:
CVX) Australian subsidiary announced Thursday that it has signed deals worth 70 billion Australian dollars ($60 billion) to supply liquefied natural gas to Japan and South Korea.
Dynavax Technologies (NASDAQ:
DVAX) announced Thursday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has removed a clinical hold on the Heplisav hepatitis B vaccine application in individuals with chronic kidney disease. Dynavax expects to initiate a Phase 3 trial in chronic kidney disease patients in the near-term. Dynavax also plans to initiate a Phase 3 lot-to-lot consistency trial in adults over 40 years of age in early 2010.
Early on Thursday, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:
LULU ) reported that its second-quarter profit slipped to $9.24 million, or 13 cents a share, from $11.1 million, or 16 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue in the quarter ended Aug. 2 rose 14% to $97.7 million.
RealtyTrac reported Thursday that U.S. foreclosure filings-- defined as default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions - fell less than 1% from July to 358,471 in August. Filings were up 18% from the year-earlier month, the real-estate consultants said.
US stocks finished higher on Wednesday after US Federal Reserve said in its Beige book that the economy continued to stabilize across much of the country in June and August.
Elsewhere, the Bank of England on Thursday left benchmark interest rates unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent for the sixth month running and said it would continue with its 175 billion pound asset buying program.
European stocks retreated in afternoon trade. At 12:52 pm London time, the UK FTSE fell 33.35 points or 0.67% to 4,970.95. The German DAX and French CAC decreased 0.01% and 0.41% respectively.
Asian stocks finished up. The Nikkei 225 rose 201.53 points or 1.95% to 10,513.67. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong gained 218.52 points or 1.05% to 21,069.56.
NYMEX crude oil for October delivery climbed as much as 1.6% to $71.66 a barrel in electronic trading.
Disclosure: Author doesn't own any of the stocks discussed here.
