Futures Pointing To Modestly Higher Open On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Stocks may move to the upside in early trading on Thursday, extending the strong upward move seen over the past few sessions. The major index futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.2 percent.

The markets may continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which helped lift the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to new record closing highs on Wednesday.

Traders continue to express optimism about a second round of peace talks between the U.S. and Iran, although a new meeting has not been officially announced.

According to reports, the warring nations are considering extending the ceasefire by two weeks in order to allow more time for talks.

"It's like the events of the past month-and-a-half have been placed in the rearview mirror by investors," said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.

He added, "The market's sanguine perspective may be tested if the rhetoric about an end to the fighting isn't matched by reality sooner rather than later."

The futures edged higher following the release of a report from the Labor Department showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back by more than expected in the week ended April 11th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 207,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised level of 218,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 215,000 from the 219,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Shortly before the start of trading, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its report on industrial production in the month of March. Industrial production is expected to inch up by 0.1 percent in March after rising by 0.2 percent in February.

Following the rally seen to start the week, stocks showed another strong move to the upside during trading on Wednesday. With the continued upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 376.93 points or 1.6 percent to 24,016.02 and the S&P 500 advanced 55.57 points or 0.8 percent to 7,022.95, although the narrower bucked the uptrend and dipped 72.27 points or 0.2 percent to 48,463.72.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 2.4 percent to a record high, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shot up by 1.7 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index are both up by 0.7 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.46 to $91.75 a barrel after inching up $0.01 to $91.29 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after falling $26.50 to $4,823.60 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $14.40 to $4,838 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 159.07 yen versus the 158.97 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1782 compared to yesterday's $1.1798.