Wall Street Poised To Open In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - The weekly jobless claims, the trade deficit and pending home sales as well as a slew of Fed talks might be the highlights on Thursday. Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open in negative zoen.

Asian shares finished mostly higher, while European shares are lower.

In the Asian trading session, the dollar was firm. Gold rose above $5,000 an ounce, while oil extended gains.

As of 7.35 am ET, the Dow futures were losing 120.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were down 13.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 79.50 points.

The U.S. major averages finished higher on Wednesday. The Nasdaq advanced 175.25 points or 0.8 percent to 22,753.63, the S&P 500 climbed 38.09 points or 0.6 percent to 6,881.31 and the Dow rose 129.47 points or 0.3 percent to 49,662.66.

On the economic front, the delayed International Trade in Goods (Advance) for December will be issued at 8.30 am ET. This was originally scheduled on January 28.

The International Trade in Goods and Services for December will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $55.8 billion, while the deficit was $56.8 billion in the prior month.

The Jobless Claims for the week will be revealed at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 22K, while it was up 227K in the prior week.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index for February is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 7.7, while it was up 12.6 in January.

The Pending Home Sales Index for January will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for growth of 2.5 percent, while it down 9.3 percent in the prior month.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Natural Gas Report for the week will be issued at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was down 249 bcf. EIA's Petroleum Status Report for the week is expected at 12.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories were 8.5 million barrels, while gasoline inventories were up 1.2 million barrels.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week will be released at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior week, the Level was $6.622 trillion.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will give opening remarks before the Banking Outlook Conference: 'The Next Horizon in Banking' hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta at 8.20 am ET.

Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman will give opening remarks before the Banking Outlook Conference: 'The Next Horizon in Banking' hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta at 8.30 am ET.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari will give keynote before the Midwest Summit: Economic Outlook 2026 hosted by the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce 9.00 am ET.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee will give opening remarks before the 2026 Joint Conference on Financial Crises co-hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago 10.30 am ET.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee will moderate a panel Q&A before the 2026 Joint Conference on Financial Crises co-hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago at 10.30 am ET.

Asian shares ended mostly higher on Thursday. China, Hong Kong and Taiwan markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

Japanese markets advanced. The Nikkei average rose 0.57 percent to 57,467.83 while the broader Topix index gained 1.18 percent to close at 3,852.09.

Australian markets rose notably. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.88 percent to 9,086.20. The broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.84 percent higher at 9,316.60.