Wall Street Poised To Open Broadly Down

(RTTNews) - The Middle East conflict and rising oil prices continue to influence investor sentiments. On Thursday, oil prices traded higher.

Gold edged lower. Spot gold slipped 0.2 percent to $4,391.07 an ounce after rising earlier in the session on a softer dollar. U.S. gold futures were down 0.6 percent.

As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were up 51.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were sliding 9.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were declining 172.50 points.

The U.S. major averages ended Wednesday in negative territory. The Dow slid 405.41 points or 0.8 percent to 52,380.66, the Nasdaq declined 168.07 points or 0.6 percent to 26,253.34 and the S&P 500 fell 37.16 points or 0.5 percent to 7,636.36.

On the economic front, the Jobless Claims for the week will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 208K, while it was up 206K in the prior week.

The PPI-Final Demand for August will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 0.4 percent, while it was at 0.00 percent in the prior month.

The Existing Home Sales for August is scheduled at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 3.970 million, while it was up 4.06 million in the prior month.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Natural Gas Report for the week will be released at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was 30 bcf. EIA's Petroleum Status Report for the week will be issued at 12.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories were down 4.5 million barrels and the gasoline inventories were down 1.2 million barrels.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be revealed at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the Level was at $6.73 trillion.

Asian stocks ended lower on Thursday. China's Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.43 percent to 3,934.40. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.27 percent to 24,954.47.

Japanese markets eked out modest gains. The Nikkei average edged up 0.20 percent to 65,270.95. The broader Topix index settled 0.20 percent higher at 4,054.58.

Australian markets fell sharply. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.03 percent to 8,819.40. The broader All Ordinaries index ended down 1.04 percent at 9,008.30.