By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Thursday, helped by Treasury yields slipping off highs, while investors await key economic data and news from Washington about government funding.
At 7:05 AM ET (1105 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 140 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 Futures traded 16 points, or 0.4%, higher, while Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 60 points, or 0.4%.
The major indices suffered from heavy selling earlier this week, the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite in particular, after the 10-year Treasury yield hit a high of just under 1.57%. The move higher in yields pressured less profitable tech stocks as it makes promised future cash flows look less attractive now.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury now yields just over 1.51%, easing the pressure on such stocks.
The positive tone may prove fragile, as the opposing political factions on Capitol Hill continue their game of brinkmanship over the continued funding of the federal government.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said late Wednesday that lawmakers had reached an agreement to avoid a government shutdown on Friday, extending government spending until Dec. 3. Positive as this news may be, it merely kicks the can further down the road. Democrats continue to fight, meanwhile, over two key spending bills, running the risk that neither is passed.
There is also a full economic data slate for investors to digest Thursday, as well as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifying in front of the House of Representatives.
The third estimate for second-quarter GDP is expected to show quarter-on-quarter growth of 6.6%, while consumer spending is likely to have risen by 3.7% in the second quarter, slowing from the first quarter’s 6.5% growth. The widely-watched core PCE price index is expected to have grown by 6.1% in the second quarter, unchanged from the first quarter, while the weekly initial jobless claims are seen coming in at 335,000.
In corporate news, home retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) is due to report quarterly results before the opening bell, while used vehicle retailer CarMax (NYSE:KMX) is also due to report second-quarter earnings.
Crude prices edged lower, weighed by an unexpected rise in U.S. inventories and a strong dollar, but expectations that the market will remain in supply deficit for some time has capped the losses.
U.S. crude inventories were up by 4.6 million barrels last week, data from the Energy Information Administration showed, as production in the Gulf of Mexico largely returned to the levels before Hurricane Ida hit around a month ago.
By 7:05 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.2% lower at $74.66 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.3% to $77.89.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,723.70/oz, while EUR/USD fell 0.2% to 1.1573.