By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening slightly lower Thursday, with investors showing caution amid continued uncertainty over a potential new coronavirus stimulus package and as the earnings season continues.
At 7:25 AM ET (1125 GMT), S&P 500 Futures traded 4 points, or 0.1%, lower, the Dow Futures contract fell 29 points, or 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 12 points, or 0.1%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and theS&P 500 are on course for their first losing week in four, and the Nasdaq Composite it’s first down week in five.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will continue discussions Thursday over a new coronavirus aid package to boost the country’s stuttering recovery, but doubts remain that such a deal can be agreed upon before the presidential election.
President Donald Trump sought overnight to blame Democrats for any failure, but the major roadblock for the roughly $2 trillion deal being negotiated by Pelosi and Mnuchin could well be Senate Republicans, some of whom baulk at the idea of a deal of anything approaching that size.
Trump and Democrat rival Joe Biden are set to square off later Thursday in their last debate before the Nov. 3 vote.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic continues to stifle economic growth. Wednesday’s Federal Reserve Beige Book pointed to sluggish employment trends, and with this in mind attention will turn to the release of the weekly initial jobless claims, at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT).
Analysts are looking for claims to be 860,000 last week, compared with 898,000 the prior week, remaining around the upper 800,000 range that has largely existed since August.
Elsewhere, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will be in the spotlight after the electric car maker reported its fifth consecutive quarterly profit on record revenue of 8.8 billion dollars, after the close Wednesday, sending its stock higher in after-hours trading.
The earnings season remains in full flow Thursday, with Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) reporting a drop in earnings and revenue as the beverage giant makes recent moves to streamline its brand offerings.
AT&T (NYSE:T) fell just short of consensus forecasts on earnings but topped expectations on revenue in the third quarter, while Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) top the billing after the close. Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) stock rose 0.9% after saying it will burn less cash in the current quarter, after reporting a record loss of over $1 billion in the third quarter.
Oil prices edged higher Thursday, rebounding after the previous session’s heavy losses after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a build of 1.895 million barrels in gasoline supply, against the 1.829 million-barrel draw predicted, suggesting U.S. motorists are increasingly choosing to stay home.
U.S. crude futures traded 1.1% lower at $40.46 a barrel, after dropping 4% Wednesday, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 1% to $42.13, after falling more than 3% the previous session.
Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.6% to $1,917.65/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% lower at 1.1832.