Credit: Shutterstock photoStocks are inching higher before key economic data later this hour.
S&P 500 futures are up 0.1 percent, while European indexes are little-changed. Asia declined modestly overnight, led by drops of about 0.5 percent in Shanghai and Mumbai.
The Commerce Department is scheduled to release revised first-quarter gross domestic product numbers at 8:30 a.m. ET. The initial reading missed estimates by a wide margin, and now economists are forecasting a contraction of 0.5 percent. Weekly jobless claims come out at the same time.
The S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent yesterday, its first decline in five sessions, after powering above 1900 for the first time ever. Transportation stocks continued their advance to new highs, while the Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 small-cap index fell and remained below record levels.
Equities have been strong amid a light calendar of events recently, with few earnings reports or big economic numbers. That changes next week, which begins with key manufacturing numbers in Europe and United States on Monday. It also brings central-bank news from India, Australia and Europe before concluding with monthly employment data for the United States.
Investors have been shifting back to consumer discretionary and technology, which lagged for several months. In particular, our researchLAB market scanner shows strength among airlines, online travel agencies, solar energy, mobile semiconductors, and Internet companies focused on the real-estate market. New groups have emerged in the transportation sector, such as tire makers and shipping/logistics.
There's also been an anti-inflationary theme as traders speculate the European Central Bank will lower interest rates next week. That's helped bonds and utilities, while hammering gold, silver and steel.
In company-specific news, Costco is down 1 percent this morning after earnings missed estimates by a narrow margin. Abercrombie & Fitch surged 8 percent on better-than-expected results. Palo Alto Networks also gained 14 percent after beating consensus and announcing the settlement of a key lawsuit. Lions Gate Entertainment, OmniVision Technologies, and Splunk follow with their numbers this afternoon.
Oil is fractionally higher, led by European Brent crude. Gold fell almost 0.6 percent, while copper and silver shed about 1 percent. Grains are little-changed. The main theme in foreign-exchange trading is U.S. dollar weakness as the Japanese yen and euro both advance against the greenback. The U.S. currency is also down against its Australian and Canadian counterparts.
In addition to this morning's GDP and jobless-claims reports, today's agenda also includes pending-home sales at 10 a.m. ET, natural-gas inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET, and crude-oil data at 11 a.m. ET.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Copyright © 2010 OptionMonster® Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
