(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stock futures rose on Thursday on better-than expected housing and initial claims data.
At 8:31 am ET, the S&P 500 futures climbed 0.10 points to 1063.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 20 points. The Nasdaq Composite futures fell 1.50 points to 1716.20.
A Department of Commerce release on Tuesday, showed housing starts jumped 1.5% in August to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 598,000. Building Permits rose 2.7% to annual rate of 579,000. Economists had projected Housing Starts to increase to an annual rate of 583,000 and building permits to rise to 598,000 in August.
A release by Department of Labor on Thursday showed number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits fell 12,000 to 545,00 in the week ending September 12. Economists expected jobless claims to rise to 598,000. The four-week average of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims, a less volatile gauge, decreased 8,750 to 563,000. Continuing claims for the week ending September 5 rose 129,000 to 6.23 million.
Early on Thursday, FedEx Corp. (NYSE:
FDX) that its fiscal first quarter net income declined to $181 million, or 58 cents a share, from $384 million or $1.23 a share in the prior-year period. FedEx posted total first-quarter revenue of $8.01 billion, versus $9.97 billion a year ago.
Late on Wednesday, Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:
ORCL) reported that its fiscal first quarter net income rose 8% to $1.1 billion, or 22 cents per share, from $1.07 billion, or 21 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding certain items, Oracle said it earned $1.5 billion, or 30 cents per share, which was up 3% from a year ago. Quarterly revenue dropped 7% to $5.1 billion.
Shares of AMR Corp. (NYSE:
AMR) soared in pre-market trading on Thursday after it said that it has obtained $2.9 billion in new financing.
Meanwhile, Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE:
EK) said Thursday that private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. has committed to purchase up to $400 million in senior secured notes due in 2017 in exchange for two seats on Kodak's board of directors.
US stocks finished solidly higher on Wednesday as better-than-expected industrial output data buoyed economic optimism.
European stocks advanced in afternoon trade. At 12:50 pm London time, the UK FTSE gained 39.22 points or 0.77% to 5,163.35. The German DAX and French CAC increased 0.55% and 0.47% respectively.
Asian stocks finished with gains. The Nikkei 225 rose 173.03 points or 1.68% to 10,443.80.The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong jumped 365.59 points or 1.71% to 21,768.51.
NYMEX crude oil for October delivery rose 2 cents to $72.53 a barrel in electronic trading.
Disclosure: Author doesn't own any of the stocks discussed here.
